With proud roots in Hong Kong since 1928, The Peninsula has been synonymous with refined Asian tastes and experiences, and an icon in the world of travel and hospitality.
Crosstec Group share the delight of unveiling The Peninsula Boutique & Café, designed by Conran Design Group - a newly opened retail space and a dining destination in one of the Peninsula hotels in Hong Kong. It celebrates the finest gourmet ingredients and dining experiences that reflect the legendary hotel’s reputation for excellence.
"It was a memorable journey for our CROSSTEC team, starting from design development to the final renovation fit out. The project features the work of extraordinary craftsmanship and partnership from various parties."
The Café and its products are all about exclusivity and excellence. Crosstec Group ensured that the interiors correspond to the brand and its values, and aimed to represent the Peninsula's rich heritage in their design. They achieved an elegant, yet relaxed and approachable look and feel for the Boutique, making the Peninsula Café the ultimate spot to unwind and share with friends, family or business associates.
The Peninsula invites guests to try their delicious culinary creations and beverages, accompanied with the famed Peninsula customer service, before exploring books on design, travel and culture by renowned French luxury publisher Assouline.
The guest experiences at the hotel will be enhanced not only by the premium food and stylish gifts they will find at the Boutique, but also by the design that is so unique to the place it is bound to become a tourist destination in itself.
Crosstec team believes that the visitors will be able to enjoy the exclusive and immersive dining experience at The Peninsula Boutique & Café and they congratulate the Peninsula on the grand opening.
About
Crosstec Group Holdings Limited (3893.HK) is a one-stop provider of interior design solutions and the majority of their clients are global luxury goods and high-end fashion brands with retail stores across the world. They serve a global client base with footprints in various parts of the world including Hong Kong, China, the United States, Europe, Middle East and other Asian countries.
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The green oak building tradition of the Hogg family forms the inspiration behind Rachel McLane's crafted designs in the new 40-bedroom Sandburn Hall Hotel in the Yorkshire countryside.
Design-led and built to a country-style specification, the 1,000-acre Sandburn Hall estate was developed by the late Mike Hogg seven miles from York. The new adjoining hotel complements what is already one of North Yorkshire’s leading golf, wedding, events and business venues.
When Pickering-based Rachel McLane was contracted in 2018 to provide her innovative, specialist interior design work for the ambitious new build it was immediately clear that the Hogg family wanted to build on Mike Hogg's legacy.
"From day one we worked very closely with the client to incorporate the Hogg family firm's wonderful custom building heritage into the design, bringing that history, the shape, feel and emotion of that green oak frame building structure to the fore," said Rachel.
"Given the freedom to interpret their brief we have created a design that not only makes the most of the space and enhances the building, but understands and incorporates the Hogg family heritage, interests, and craftsmanship into the final design."
The new hotel's centrepiece uses natural green oak beams to frame a triple-height lobby as part of Sandburn Hall Golf Club, Grand Function Room and Tykes restaurant. Hand picked artwork is established on the walls, including photos of green oak frames and black and white prints going around the corridors and rooms. The designs also take some of their inspiration from the local area where York and the East Coast are evident in the natural colours, earthy tones, and real materials including vintage maps depicting the Sandburn Estate.
"In doing so, we were able to fulfil an important part of the brief that the rooms and spaces had to feel individual and not corporate," added Rachel.
Rachel's design vision created a unique cohesive feel across all rooms and into the common areas ensuring that the Hogg family connections to nature and craftsman trades were reflected in the room décor. Rachel commented: "The designs merge the traditional and the contemporary and aim to achieve a balance that bridges the core golf, wedding and business customer base."
The Rachel McLane team's design expertise is evident throughout the new hotel's range of 40 double and twin rooms all with dressing areas, including larger family, luxury and accessible rooms, and two luxury suites. They also all come with handcrafted built-in case goods. "We wanted the signature and family rooms to be fun, a bit urban and industrial where the raw richness of exposed brickwork and soft leather combine with cool-toned sawn grey oak flooring and built-in bespoke joinery."
Well lit, spacious and airy with eclectic pieces of furniture that differentiate between room types, the large windows of these signature and family rooms are of a natural oatmeal palette, soft grey and brick in a modern, fresh design that naturally marry the hand-crafted structure of the building.
Super-king beds and luxury, made in Yorkshire Harrison Spinks mattresses are a feature, and bathrooms are a mix of contemporary and traditional with the emphasis being on quality and timeless design. The hotel's premier rooms, including the courtyard premier, have been designed with a feel that is classic and calm with raw, untreated materials to give a fresh, bright, light and airy atmosphere. Reclaimed bricks are softened by natural cream and teal curtain fabrics with artisan hand-blocked characteristics. Elements of teal and natural weave have been picked up in soft woven tweeds and the carpet's muted tones, and the furniture has a comfortable country feel in a calm palette.
"The biggest challenge was the length of time it took from creating the fixtures and fittings specification to fulfiling the initial design with Covid-19 a constant hindrance. We found that not only were some products unavailable, but more than one company had ceased trading."
Despite the challenges of a long project Rachel says that the team has loved working on Sandburn Hall Hotel: "The client is a pleasure to work for, they appreciate high-quality workmanship, attention to detail, and above all understand the value of design and the difference having a designer on board makes to a project.
"It's also lovely being local to a project as you feel like you are contributing towards the good of the local area."
About the Author
Rachel McLane developed a wealth of experience designing for the retail sector for eight years in London and York before setting up her practice, Rachel McLane Ltd specialising in the design of interiors for professional clients with commercial interests.
Scotland’s very first YOTEL, centrally located in Edinburgh’s bustling Queen Street, perfectly combines contemporary modern interiors with the classic design of the city’s famous Old Town architecture. Its playful ‘cabin’ style rooms feature bathrooms using a bespoke solution and innovative solid surface material Surfex® exclusively from Roca.
YOTEL Edinburgh is the brand’s first city centre opening in Europe. Its premium location is perfectly placed, allowing guests to experience all of the city’s historic charms and top attractions within walking distance of the hotel. The sleek and modern interior is testament to the ethos of the brand; creating an innovative, smart hotel for tech-savvy travellers.
The hotel has 276 compact cabin rooms, inspired by the feeling first class travel provides in terms of luxury and comfort. Each room is equipped with YOTEL’s signature features including luxury bedding, relaxing mood lighting and Smart TVs. This helps to enhance the smart experience YOTEL is renowned for and evokes contemporary style and convenience. The rooms are designed to have a modern feel, and its minimalist white interior highlights the brand’s close attention to detail.
During the launch, YOTEL Edinburgh General Manager Stuart Douglas said, “The main purpose of the cabin rooms at YOTEL is to provide guests with functionality, practicality and above all, high quality. The uncompromising design of the rooms and bathrooms ensures guests have the essential elements of luxury hotels but redesigned into a compact, smart space.”
Working closely alongside YOTEL at the design stage of the project, Roca created a bathroom solution that closely aligned with the brand standards. This included the Gap wall-hung WC and a bespoke vanity unit, in addition to bespoke washroom countertops for the public areas of the hotel.
Manufactured in Poland, the bespoke units were made using Roca’s innovative Surfex®, a malleable solid surface material formulated from a combination of minerals and resins. The unique properties of Surfex allow it to be poured into a production mould, enabling complex designs with no joints or seams. The materials properties also permit ‘on-site’ changes to the finished product, catering to different guestroom sizes and configurations. At YOTEL Edinburgh the advantages of Surfex were harnessed to create a wash basin bowl with an integrated unit that maximises countertop space, providing ample storage space for toiletries and grooming products.
The addition of The Gap wall-hung WC further complemented the design aesthetic. Created by renowned industrial designer Antonio Bullo, The Gap features modern and stylish lines whilst delivering both a compact and functional bathroom solution.
“We worked in close partnership with the YOTEL team to deliver a bespoke solution that fitted their requirements and those of their guests,” comments Jon Bond, Head of UK Projects at Roca. “The end result is a bathroom that seamlessly integrates the modern feel of the cabin rooms, with the contemporary ethos of the YOTEL brand.”
About Roca
Roca began in 1917 as a manufacturer of cast iron radiators at its factory in Gavà, near Barcelona. From humble origins, the company has grown into a global business driven by a firm focus on improving the quality of life for its customers. Roca began producing innovate new designs, products and materials to provide the complete bathroom solutio. Today, Roca manufactures at 78 facilities around the world and is active in over 170 markets.
With 'renew, repurpose and replenish' at the heart of her work, award-winning interior design consultant and SBID Accredited Designer, Rachel McLane has just completed the Bike & Boot – Scarborough’s newest hotel. As well as the design and fit-out of the 65 bedrooms, Rachel's Yorkshire-based designers have created eye-catching common areas including the bar, residents’ lounge, film club and restaurant.
"We were fortunate with the Bike & Boot as the building was once a row of Georgian terrace houses and retains much of the original architecture. Even now, the envelope of the building remains true to its heritage," said Rachel, who heads up a close-knit team of specialist designers experienced in concept design, design detailing and space planning for the hotel, residential, retail and leisure industries.
"It made no commercial sense to strip back and re-plaster the walls. Rather than hiding the faded grandeur of the original building, we have worked with it and given it a new lease of life."
"My attitude is not to be overly precious; interior design is not about me forcing my ideas onto a client and their customers. Instead, it is about creating something that works for them and enhances their business. It is about producing the best solution we can, for the budget – but that does not mean holding back on quality or design. And good design does not have to cost the earth."
Striving to be local as far as possible, Rachel employed craftsmen and suppliers from the area who were passionate about harnessing their skills to revitalise this once grand feature of the Scarborough seafront. This work has included bespoke case goods, re-upholstering furniture, sourcing local photographs for bedroom doors, creating graphic blinds using original railway poster designs and producing wall mounts featuring bicycle seats and handlebars instead of the traditional taxidermy heads. Other bespoke items in the hotel on Cliff Bridge Terrace include clocks made of brightly coloured bicycle bells and flip flops. Bespoke lighting was created from old bike wheels and crates, and a bespoke handle for the residents’ lounge is based on the ampersand between the 'Bike' and 'Boot'.
A Georgian inspired colour palette was used to paint over the old anaglypta wallpaper giving the rooms a new identity and feel, and the team also designed and commissioned wallpaper based on activity maps of the area and recreated posters of original postcards of Scarborough from its heyday as a fashionable spa resort.
The design and installation of the Bike & Boot's new hotel bar shows all of the company's green, recycling values coming through by giving a second life to the metal back-bar of an old venue in Leeds at the same time as commissioning a Harrogate based company to produce the joinery elements to Rachel McLane's designs.
"If you have been walking or cycling all day, you want to be able to relax and feel at home," said Rachel. "The team sourced the bar furniture with that in mind - some of it was new and some of it was pre-loved and repurposed. An old chair can be upholstered by a skilled tradesman, and by choosing fabric of the right quality and design, the result looks great and provides the luxury of comfort.
"Renew, repurpose and replenish is an ethos at the heart of our work. I believe in avoiding sending things to landfill or bonfires whenever possible, and I am glad to say we have done our little bit with some of the bar and restaurant furniture at The Bike & Boot. This has also helped to reduce our carbon footprint in shipping in new products," added Rachel, who worked on the concept of the Bike & Boot for two years with its directors Simon Kershaw and Simon Rhatigan, and for the last nine months with the local refurbishment contractor Infiniti Roofing & Construction.
This week's instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a hotel public space redesign. Virserius Studio completed the second phase of the redesign of the Renaissance Paris La Défense in Summer 2018. This involved a partial renovation of the lobby, removing the existing executive lounge, and creating a destination restaurant. Virserius Studio took into consideration the owner’s concerns by blending of older existing elements like the classical towers while incorporating more contemporary design elements. The aim was for the hotel to not just be for guests but for it to be a place the public in this busy section of Paris can incorporate into their busy day, whether it’s grabbing a coffee from the brasserie kiosk or a glass of wine on the way home or meeting on important matters during the day.
SBID Awards Category: Hotel Public Space Sponsored by Viva Lagoon
Practice: Virserius Studio
Project: Renaissance Paris La Defense Hotel
Location: Paris, France
What was the client's brief?
The brief for the project was to reflect the La Défense neighborhood and its surroundings through carefully curated art and lighting. This involved a partial renovation of the lobby, removing the existing executive lounge, and creating a destination restaurant. We wanted the hotel to not just be for guests but for it to be a place the public in this busy section of Paris can incorporate into their busy day, whether it’s grabbing a coffee from the brasserie kiosk or a glass of wine on the way home, or meeting on important matters during the day.
What inspired the interior design of the project?
First, we wanted to pay homage to the art and fashion of Paris. However, we wanted to add elements reflecting the landscape of the beautiful French countryside, located not too far away.
What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?
Renaissance Paris La Défense belongs to 3 political districts, which presented a logistical and construction challenge. We had to file permits in each district; some were liberal, and some were more lenient. There were many stakeholders, complicating the process.
What was your highlight of the project?
Light sculpture that spans 3 floors, focal point 50 ft, visible from everywhere, custom designed by V/S to connect all three floors to penetrate all three level. It’s handblown glass representing algae, but more like snowflake or flower.
Why did you enter the SBID Awards?
A design excellence award distinction from SBID is one of the most prestigious a firm can receive in this industry. With each completed project, we want to present our work to a jury of peers, and recognition is always appreciated.
Questions answered by Therese Virserius, Founder and Lead Designer at Virserius Studio.
We hope you feel inspired by this week's hotel design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
If you missed last week's Project of the Week, featuring a residential design making use of its surrounding nature, click here to see more.
This week's instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a lakeside residence designed for an active couple approaching retirement. The client sought to create a home that celebrated the environmentally protected nature surrounding them, where they could enjoy aging in place while granting space for another generation to visit and entertain around lake life. Nature is brought indoors through the extensive glass and is emphasised by the mixed material palette including reclaimed wood, granite, and earth-toned walls. The home’s incorporation of sustainable and accessible design elements ensures that Arcadia House will be the heart of the family for generations to come.
SBID Awards Category: Residential Design Over £1 Million Sponsored by THG Paris
Practice: Visnick & Caulfield
Project: Arcadia House
Location: Massachusetts, United States
The client wanted a home that would act as a gathering place for family and close friends. They felt the home should celebrate its natural surroundings and experience nature indoors. Most importantly, the clients, an active couple, are nearing retirement and wanted their space to accommodate aging in place.
The space is inspired by its immediate surroundings, by being immersed in nature, and by the site’s relationship to the water.
Working within the constraints of the environment proved challenging. The design and construction of the home contended with multiple setbacks surrounding the water, undeveloped land, and sloping topography throughout its uniquely shaped lot. The team overcame the environmental protections in place by using them as interest-driving constraints to derive the form and placement of the house.
Seeing the client fully immersed in their home is immensely rewarding. The highlight of the project is seeing it become a setting that we as designers envisioned – one which brings together family and friends.
We were inspired by the variety and quality of work at the SBID Awards, and hope to take part in the field with such international talent.
Questions answered by Cora Visnick, Architect at Visnick & Caulfield.
We hope you feel inspired by this week's residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
If you missed last week's Project of the Week, featuring a 1960’s inspired hotel, click here to see more.
This week's instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a 1960's inspired Hotel Public Space. 2019 SBID Awards Finalist, Smallwood, had the challenge of ensuring a strong arrival moment for guests, given that the hotel entrance shares a lobby with the office tower and the residences. It was therefore important to give the guest a strong visual impact and to zone the arrival experience of a Waldorf Astoria that could easily compete against the multiple design languages of the adjacent office and residential lobby spaces.
Practice: Smallwood
Project: Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The client’s brief called for a mid-modern approach, and unusually for Dubai, without any cultural references to the locale but a design that reflected the styling of the exterior architecture.
The client gave the styling of the American television series “Mad Men” as the design direction, so a strong New York sixties feel to the interior architecture and FF&E was used throughout.
To create a series of zoned spaces across Level 18 that prevented square meterage from being lost to circulation. With a total interior width of 25metres and a length of over 80m, Smallwood created ‘rooms within rooms’ so that the spaces interconnected, obviating the need for multiple circulation routes.
The opportunity to design an interior of a hotel in the Middle East with a cool aesthetic very different from the more typical hotel projects in the region.
We believe SBID is a highly prestigious design awards competition and it is a great way to showcase our new projects across the region to both operators and developers.
Questions answered by Joshua Rayner Roger Judd, Interior Design Director at Smallwood.
We hope you feel inspired by this week's Hotel Design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
If you missed last week's Project of the Week, featuring a charming Chicago Hotel, click here to see more.
This week's instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a hotel public space designed by Studio K Creative to feel like a beautiful, private estate. Hotel Zachary is inspired by Wrigley Field’s original architect, Zachary Taylor Davis. The charming floor plan includes a central bar, which creates an intuitive path that takes guests on a walk reminiscent of Davis’ own home by incorporating his family heirlooms, repurposing his architectural sketches into key art pieces and paying homage to his love story with details that honour his wife, Alma, and their children. Hotel Zachary is an authentic design that represents a piece of Chicago history.
Practice: Studio K Creative
Project: Hotel Zachary
Location: Illinois, United States
With a location across the street from Wrigley Field, the client envisioned a hotel inspired by the original architect of the ballpark, Zachary Taylor Davis. They approached Studio K with the desire to create a lobby that would act as a warm and inviting community space that felt authentic to Chicago’s history. The goal was to establish an approachable, versatile home base for visitors looking for a classic Chicago neighbourhood experience.
Hotel Zachary is inspired by Wrigley Field’s original architect, Zachary Taylor Davis.
The greatest design challenge was creating a space adaptable enough for guests to enjoy a cozy breakfast, important business lunch or hip happy hour all within the same central area. The lobby had to move seamlessly from day to night. To achieve this transition, we worked meticulously with lighting designers to get the levels correct for different hours and functions, effectively creating varying atmospheres depending on the time of day.
Since this was a legacy project, our team worked very closely with Zachary’s family to ensure the design was genuine and deeply personal. It was very touching working on a project that involved a person with historical significance.
We met with his family descendants, went through their photographs, his original sketches, his original blueprints and assorted artefacts that were passed down, including love letters between Zachary and his wife, Alma. All of these pieces were either incorporated into key art through the space or inspired various design choices. There was a lot of storytelling weaved through the process which made the outcome truly authentic.
Hotel Zachary means a great deal to the city of Chicago since it celebrates a piece of history and elevated the neighbourhood around it. We are very proud that our first completed public space in a hotel has received such an overwhelmingly positive reaction from locals and visitors alike, and wanted to bring it into an international market.
Questions answered by Karen Herold, Principal and Alicia Kelly, Senior Designer at Studio K Creative.
If you missed last week's Project of the Week, featuring a luxurious Italian Villa, click here to see more.
This week's instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features the beautifully bespoke, authentic and consciously curated interiors for the re-design of Miramonti; a luxury boutique hotel in Brescia, Italy. Located just over two hours away from Milan, the hotel is surrounded by stunning natural beauty and is popular for seasonal activities including: skiing, ice climbing, hiking, fly fishing, porcini mushroom picking and wine-tasting at the vineyards nearby.
The London-based, proactive and purposeful design studio, Boxx Creative completed a timeless design for the hotel’s new minimalist contemporary interiors. Inspired by the scenic Italian mountains, the interior design provides a tranquil place where guests can experience total relaxation, reconnect with nature and re-balance.
Defining a new standard of boutique hotel design for the local area and beyond, Miramonti celebrates the achievements of conscious design, showcasing the spectacular results that can be achieved when design is fully considered from all aspects; aesthetics, functionality, innovation, social and environment impact.
Practice: Boxx Creative
Project: Miramonti
Location: Brescia, Italy
Image credits: Mariell Lind Hansen
Originally built in 1958, Miramonti is a family-owned hotel that had recently passed onto the third-generation. The hotel’s new owners had a clear vision for what they wished to achieve, great design style and taste, an appreciation for quality, timelessness and longevity, as well as a desire to support the local community and minimise the environmental impact of the project.
The hotel was to be totally transformed, with space maximised to increase bedroom numbers, flexibility of room use and defined room types created for couples and spacious suites with connecting bunk-bed rooms for families with children. The existing bedrooms provided for self-catering with kitchenettes and dining tables, which were to be removed. In the ensuites, small shower cubicles and bidets were to be replaced with walk-in showers.
The hotel was to be fully modernised, offering guests something completely different in terms of room layout, furnishings, lighting and materials. The design had to be a real game changer and ensure that Miramonti could continue its proud legacy and be enjoyed by future generations of guests and locals.
Miramonti, meaning mountain view, draws its name from nature. Its holistic design was also inspired by the beauty of its surroundings and every design detail was thoughtfully considered to reflect this connection, including the colour palette, hard finishes, bespoke furniture, textiles, artwork and accessories.
The deep terracotta facade evokes the changing seasons and rich natural Italian colour palette. In the twenty-one guest bedrooms, the complementary green and blue colour schemes are both balanced and calming.
The design concept draws on the natural elements of earth, fire, air, water, wood and metal. Materials were selected for their authentic properties and link to the surrounding environment and feature in the natural stone wash basins, solid trunk coffee tables, round metal bedsides and soft natural fabrics of the sheer linen blinds and cotton bed throws.
Consideration was also given to all elements of the hotel’s design to ensure quality, longevity and minimising environmental impact. Everything was designed and built-to-last. Locally sourced, sustainable materials were used wherever possible and carpet made from recycled fibres line the corridors.
The majority of the furnishings were made completely bespoke by the contractor and his team of talented artisans in his local Tirano-based workshop. The bedrooms feature headboard panelling and wooden beds, metal framed open cabinetry storage and sturdy desks, wooden flooring, panelled doors and shuttered windows, each thoughtfully hand-crafted.
The build contractor was chosen for his energy saving principles and employment of workers within the area. All the wood chips left-over from his workshop were burnt in a furnace to heat houses in the village.
Lighting was a key part of the project where the clients wished to make an impressive statement. Layers of lighting with iconic FLOS feature pendants and Scandi-inspired statement wall lights make strong visual impact and create focal points in the guest bedrooms and ensuites. For the light switches, electrical sockets and ironmongery, Buster+Punch’s architectural hardware was the perfect companion with its strong design edge.
We experienced three main challenges with the project - time, distance and language barrier.
Time: The project had a quick turnaround, once the project got the go ahead, we had just over one month to do all the design work and produce all the technical drawings. The build work had to be completed within a 3-month time frame during the low season and finish on time for the start of the busy December ski season. We flew out in the final week to snag the build, install the furniture and artwork, then dress and style all the rooms for the professional photoshoot, before the hotel opened its doors to welcome guests. It was an extremely tight schedule, however the project was successfully completed and delivered on time.
Distance and Language Barrier: Unlike all our other projects where do regular site visits during the build phase, for Miramonti we worked remotely from London. Unfortunately, we can’t speak Italian and the Italian contractor couldn’t speak English, so we developed different ways of working and communicating. We setup a WhatsApp group, which was great for quick questions and sending pictures and used GoogleTranslate to translate each other’s messages. These smart phone apps were invaluable to us working together on the projects.
What was your team’s highlight of the project?
In the guest bedrooms, one of the highlights for us is the intricate details of the wooden furniture and joinery hand-crafted from our bespoke designs by the contractor and his team of skilled local artisans. Two of our favourite design details are the elegant curves of the wooden bed frames and the rippled effect of the under-sink cabinets, which are replicated in the ensuite pocket doors with reeded glass panes. These small, thoughtfully considered and beautifully made details may easily go unnoticed, however for us these are a great delight to see and experience.
Questions answered by Nicola Keenan, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Boxx Creative
We hope you feel inspired by this week's Hotel design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
If you missed last week's Project of the Week featuring a memorable hotel public space with playful and immersive design, click here to see more.
This week's instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a vibrant, cinematic inspired design for a memorable hotel experience in Dubai. Unleashing an unprecedented dimension to Studio City in Dubai, the aptly named Studio One Hotel sits perfectly within its demographic as its entire narrative plays tribute to nostalgic touches and cinematic expressions. Bishop Design crafted a dynamic interior scheme, boasting an intoxicating arrival experience where guests are greeted with playful features such as an old-school vintage TV installation and unique lighting solutions in the form of figurines carrying umbrellas. Along with an eclectic mélange of loose and fixed furniture and vivid artworks, the hotel lobby and public space reinvents people’s expectations of how a hotel should feel, look, and function, while complying with local standards; casual, comfortable, ultimately stylish, somewhat provocative, memorable to all and a hybrid between art and function through its visually striking interior and subliminal messaging.
SBID Awards: Hotel Public Space finalist sponsored by Viva Lagoon
Practice: Bishop Design
Project: Studio One Hotel
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Image credits: Alex Jeffries
The Studio One Hotel as prescribed in the Client Brief was to create and establish a new language and philosophical approach to a modern, current, 4-star hotel environment. The hotel was to feature 5 different room types, which would include a selection of extended stay studios and apartments. Creating a comfortable and homely environment was at the heart of the projects conception with careful consideration dedicated to self-service pantries on each floor, in-house launderette and a grab & go counter. Space allocation was paramount to best utilise the area available still adhering to DTCM standards and guidelines, however, playful, cheeky and diverse in its application and design styling. The clients desired to create a fresh hotel offering unique to the region and to the star offering in spirit yet establishing an individual identity as a home-grown brand that would set the precedent of subsequent future outlets to follow. The approach taken was to create something fresh, original, multi-faceted in its function allowing the guest to stay either on a short-term or long-term basis. We were also commissioned to design two F&B units within the hotel.
Encompassing guests in its strong narrative, Studio One has become a real home-from-home environment through its immersive cinematic character, naturally enforcing an authentic connection to every guest. The narrative has resulted in a cozy space that everyone can relate to and feel comfortable within. Nostalgic senses exude from the entity’s cinematic expressions right from the old school TV feature that greets guests from the onset of their experience through to the playful “on air” lighting features that illuminate whenever a room is occupied. This thematic continuity enhances an effortlessly loveable charm between guests and the hotel, and is what sets the guest experience far beyond other hotels in the region.
The desired design direction was to be ultimately cost-effective, considering materials which were unique, recycled with a strong use of graphic and visual connectivity throughout, thoughtfully provocative however synonymous with its demographic yet also possessing the versatility to be rolled out within different regions on a global level.
Studio One was designed to unleash an unprecedented dimension to the city’s DNA which would eagerly entice residents and tourists alike, from surrounding residential areas and Dubai as a whole. Now fully established, Studio One compliments yet stands out from its surroundings through its cinematic context and striking personality, instantly becoming a desirable hotel and F&B hotspot in Studio City, which was somewhat previously absent from many alluring traits. It is an honour to have introduced something so unique and vibrant to the region that brings the community together.
Showcasing projects of the highest calibre all over the world, the SBID Awards stand as a desirable platform for every designer to share their work. It truly is a privilege to be able to submit a selection of our projects, as we become inspired year on year with the unprecedented talent and expertise that that the awards influence.
Questions answered by Pail Bishop, owner & founder, Bishop Design by Paul Bishop
If you missed last week's Project of the Week featuring decorative details and oriental architecture for an innovative Chinese classical style, click here to see more.
SBID Awards 2019 | Hotel Public Space finalist sponsored by Viva Lagoon
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