Taking the interiors of its S-Class and Maybach models as a starting point, Mercedes-Benz has completely styled six apartments (of 100 square meters each) located in London's glamorous Kensington area and owned by the Frasers Hospitality Group.

Each Mercedes-Benz Living @Fraser residence has two bedrooms, a living area and fitted kitchen, but everything, from the lighting system to individual pieces of furniture, have been designed to create a seamless visual flow but one that exists without making the entire space open plan. The position, choice and development fixtures and fittings help to outline dedicated spaces within spaces. "As in our vehicles we have combined sensual surfaces and clean lines with intelligent high-tech functionality in order to create a perfectly conceived world of modern luxury that promotes wellbeing and relaxation," explains Gorden Wagener, head of Design at Daimler AG.

A centerpiece of each apartment will be a multimedia system that the company calls the Black Magic Wall. An entire wall given over to digital entertainment and finished in high-gloss black, it will provide a huge visual contrast and is a careful nod to the deign aesthetic of a luxury car interior. "More and more people are permanently on the move. They live and work in unfamiliar cities where they are looking for a 'home away from home' and a sense of security," said Wilfried Steffen, head of the company's Business Innovation department. "That's exactly what we want to offer them."

The company turned to existing partners Burmester and Swarovski to help bring particular design and feature elements of the apartments to fruition, and if the initial London pilot scheme is a success when it opens to business travelers in November, a further nine apartments in Singapore will be similarly developed. But that's just the start. "Our aim is to turn the idea of the Mercedes apartments into a functioning business model as quickly as possible," said Steffen.