ABOUT THE SITE:

Located in the heart of Liverpool’s Castle Street Conservation Area, 20-34 Castle Street stands as a monument to the city’s past—a historic bank from the 1800s, its carved stone walls and towering ceilings whispering stories of a bygone era. With its intricate plasterwork, wood and steel beams, and elegant columns, this Grade II listed building has long been a cornerstone of Liverpool’s commercial history. We embarked on a transformative journey to reimagine this architectural gem as Z’s Karam Hotel, a 24-hour gaming convention sanctuary for players, creators, contractors, electricians, game developers, and their pets. This portfolio piece takes you through our journey, from the first spark of inspiration to a design shared online for global audiences to engage with, using modern tools to create a space that honours the building’s legacy while embracing the vibrant world of gaming culture.

Liverpool has always been a city of connection—a port that welcomed travellers from around the world, its streets alive with the echoes of history, from the Georgian architecture of Castle Street to the musical legacy of the Beatles. As designers, we developed the concept for Z’s Karam Hotel as a case study to test AI tools in this unique environment, exploring how technology can shape innovative design within a historic setting. Inspired by this context, we drew from ancient hospitality traditions to name the hotel Zeus Karam, reflecting the Greek god Zeus Xenios, who protected guests, ensuring they felt safe and welcome, while Bedouin karam embodied desert generosity, offering shelter to strangers and their pets. We chose this theme to create a gaming hotel where everyone—players, creators, and their companions—feels at home, mirroring the warm hospitality of historic inns that once dotted Liverpool’s docks.

Our process began with a careful study of the site, walking through its grand halls to understand how light filtered through the arched windows, brightening upper floors, while the cooler, northern corners offered ideal spots for gaming screens. We traced pathways to nearby landmarks like Liverpool ONE and Derby Square, seeing the hotel as a vibrant hub within the city’s fabric. Castle Street, a commercial artery since the 1700s, set the stage for our vision, and we committed to preserving the bank’s original features—its carved stone walls, intricate plasterwork, and structural beams. This initial exploration laid the groundwork, guiding every decision to ensure the building’s historical narrative remained intact as we moved into the conceptual design phase, brainstorming ideas that would resonate with the gaming community while respecting the site’s heritage.


ABOUT THE STUDY:

To bring this vision to life, we turned to cutting-edge tools that allowed us to explore ideas in innovative ways. We used text-to-image tools, typing prompts like “gaming lobby under a historic ceiling with immersive screens,” to generate visuals almost instantly. These images, while inspiring, often needed adjustments—some suggested layouts that didn’t fit the building’s unique dimensions, so we refined them manually. We then used image-to-video tools to create short clips, sharing them online to show how the lobby might feel during a gaming event, capturing the energy of a tournament in motion. Image-to-model tools followed, building 3D representations of our designs, which let us test layouts for gaming arenas, event spaces, and streamer-friendly bedrooms. These models became essential for this documented experiment, not a real-life renovation, providing a framework for contractors to understand potential construction, electricians to plan wiring for gaming tech, and game developers to envision hosting events. This project was made possible through a special brief from the LJMU School of Art and Design, uniquely tailored for our concept—the only project of its kind at the university. We extend our gratitude to LJMU for enabling us to connect with large upscale gaming development agencies, companies, councillors, and professionals, including structural engineers, whose expertise and networks helped us grow this experiment.

The concept of Z’s Karam Hotel grew into a sanctuary where gaming culture could flourish through immersive storytelling, blending the mythical with the futuristic. AI tools played a ​crucial role, suggesting a series of bold concepts that shaped our design.

Z's Karam Great Hall: The lobby transforms into a dynamic gaming arena, preserving its historic ceiling while integrating non-invasive technology. An AI-generated concept inspired by Hogwarts’ Great Hall features a circular stone wall and LED-lit arches, constructed with lightweight, reversible materials to comply with Part A (Structure) regulations. Alternatively, an AI-proposed Alien Invasion theme, drawing from Space Invaders, employs a suspended LED panel framework, ensuring structural integrity (Part A) without compromising the heritage ceiling.

Z's Karam Honeydukes Café: Located near the entrance, this café blends retro arcade aesthetics with an AI-inspired Honeydukes design. Timber counters, neon accents, slip-resistant flooring (Part M, Accessibility), and fire-rated finishes (Part B, Fire Safety) create a functional yet inviting space for visitors.

Z's Karam Gaming Studios: Adaptable event spaces leverage the original bank’s architectural character, seamlessly hosting large-scale esports tournaments or intimate developer workshops with tailored configurations.

Z's Karam Knight Bus Accessible Reception: Inspired by an AI-conceptualized Knight Bus, this reception area combines arcade-inspired lighting with practical desks. Energy-efficient electrical systems adhere to Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Power), ensuring a welcoming and sustainable entry point.

Moaning Myrtle Commercial Toilet: This restroom, informed by an AI-driven Moaning Myrtle theme, balances accessibility and heritage preservation. Compliant with Part M (Accessibility) through grab rails and accessible doors, it uses reversible fixtures to meet Part K (Protection from Falling) requirements. An innovative AI-programmed interactive screen enables direct engagement with the Moaning Myrtle character, enhancing the user experience.

These concepts, born from AI’s surreal imagination, pushed us to explore perspectives that transcend traditional design, creating spaces that feel like stepping into a game world while meeting regulatory standards. Reflecting the Bedouin tradition of welcoming all travellers, this project embraces inclusivity—Bedouin Karam stems from desert nomads who opened their tents to strangers, sharing food, water, and shelter, often with communal meals around a fire, ensuring even animals were cared for with designated resting spots. We mirrored this hospitality by designing pet-friendly spaces throughout the hotel, such as pet lounges with cushioned seating and safe flooring, ensuring every guest—human or pet—feels welcomed, linking our design to the timeless warmth of those desert traditions.

The process grew from a singular idea into a broader experiment, shared with online communities to gather insights and expand our vision. Initially conceived as a local gaming hub, the project took on new dimensions as we posted AI-generated clips and 3D models on platforms, inviting feedback from users worldwide. Gamers suggested adding more streaming spaces, while others envisioned interactive features, turning our work into a collaborative testbed for innovation. This iterative approach, spanning concept development to technical design, mirrored the stages of a structured design workflow, refining our plans to balance functionality with creativity. The tools we used allowed us to explore surreal perspectives—imagining gaming spaces that felt like stepping into a mythical realm or a sci-fi universe—pushing the boundaries of traditional design to create something that transcends the ordinary, akin to an artistic expression within architecture.

This journey reflects a philosophy where imagination drives innovation, echoing the idea that the imaginary holds greater value than knowledge alone. By envisioning spaces that blend gaming culture with ancient hospitality traditions, we tapped into a creative ethos that prioritises vision over constraints, allowing us to reimagine a historic bank as a space where stories unfold—where every gaming event, every interaction, becomes a piece of art. The Zeus Karam concept, with its roots in Greek and Bedouin hospitality, is woven into every design decision, ensuring the hotel feels like a sanctuary for all who enter, their pets included. As we share this project online, we invite contractors to build with precision, electricians to wire with innovation, game developers to create with passion, and global platforms to engage with a vision that redefines what architecture can achieve.