Design Hotels
"3XN Choreographs Steps in the Sky - Bella Sky Hotel", Mark, October/November 2011
New Hotel Trends: Eco-hotels in San Francisco, Sleeper Magazine September/October 2009
Good Hotel, San Francisco, Sleeper October 2009
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Frank Hotel, San Francisco, Sleeper, October 2009
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Intercontinental Hotel, San Francisco, Sleeper, October 2009
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Hotel Vertigo, Sleeper, October 2009
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Grims Grenka Hotel, Oslo, Norway, Sleeper Magazine
Architect Ola Helle, of Kristin Jarmund Architects, designers of the new Grims Grenka Hotel in Oslo, takes the status of designing Oslo’s first design hotel quite seriously. “Some hotels think putting two fancy chairs in the lobby can make a design hotel but you have to follow the design through all aspects of the building” he says. The architects designed almost everything in the hotel as integrated design elements—from the bespoke writing tables in the rooms to the sofas in the bars to the subtly themed room interiors to the architectural treatment of the hotel. Kristin Jarmund Architects are both architects and interior designers and perhaps this is why there is a consistent look and feel through all aspects of the place. “In Norway, in any case, there is such an artificial border between these two professions” explains Helle. The 66 room, 5 star hotel, part of the Scandinavian hotels First Hotel brand, sits on the site of an existing hotel, which before that used to be two office buildings connected by an atrium space. Recycling some of the old room layouts and locations for the lobby and restaurant, the architects strived to create a sophisticated new hotel, restaurant and bar for this formerly rather rough, but now up and coming area of the city. Read more in Sleeper Magazine September 2008.
'Atrium Hotel', Cube Hotel, Switzerland, Baumschlager and Eberle Architects, Mark Magazine
Austrian architects Baumschlager and Eberle have made an enormous public atrium the happening hub of their all-inclusive hotel. ‘The atmosphere here has more to do with a big railway station than a hotel’ says Carlo Baumschlager of Baumschlager and Eberle about the atrium ‘core’ of the firm’s new Cube Hotel in Savogin, Switzerland. Located a mere 50m from the cable cars, the hotel with the unique ‘all inclusive’ concept targets young sports enthusiasts who want inexpensive and social accommodation in the Alps. The choice of architects is an interesting one. Surprisingly the owners didn’t ask a young, hip, designer to do a trendy interiors project inside a standard, budget, concrete box. Instead, they collaborated with a noted Austrian practice to design a modern, pared-down, Swiss-style building that preferences quality and space over colours and trends…Read more in Mark Magazine Issue 4.
'Park Hotel' Das Park Hotel, Austria, designer Andreas Strauss, Mark Magazine
“It’s like a coin locker where you can sleep” explains Andreas Strauss, conceptual artist and designer of Das Park Hotel in Ottenheim, Austria. He takes urban camping to the extreme, using three cylindrical concrete bunkers set in a public park as ‘guest suites’ in a bizarre reinterpretation of the contemporary boutique hotel. “The whole city mutates into the lobby, and the tube suites become your bedroom and living room.”…Strauss insists the space inside is ‘homey’ but it is hard to imagine anyone feeling ‘at home’ in a concrete ‘tent’. The experience is certainly not for the faint hearted, but it would make a great story to take back from a mini break. Read more in Mark Magazine Issue 4.
'Floating Hotel' concept hotel, Erick Van Eegaraat, Mark Magazine
Check in will be at the hotel reception, a concrete and translucent fibreglass ‘shell’ set on a floating pontoon on the Danube in Budapest, and guests can board a speedboat to their private guest suite, a floating hideaway connected by covered circulation paths or ‘capsules’ to nearby cafes, bars and baths. However futuristic Dutch architect Erick Van Eegaraat’s concept for a luxury ‘floating hotel’ on the Danube may sound, it is has been designed in detail, using pragmatic, buildable components; small, separate buildings scattered along a 350m stretch of the Danube riverbank in Budapest, utilizing energy efficient environmental design principles. The proposal for the village-style development includes hotel rooms, cafes, bars and entertainment venues, all linked in a linear band of connected, floating pontoons, creating a city on the water. Head of EEA’s office in Budapest, Judit Hasmagyi, describes the buildings as a series of terraces and corridors on the water, a flexible, adaptable system of construction that can be configured to provide spaces perfect for both ‘honeymoon islands’ as well as parties on the river. Read more in Mark Magazine Issue 4.
'Folded Hotel', Koenigsarte Hotel, Italy, Plasma Studio, Mark Magazine
“It’s going to be like a kinetic sculpture,” says Holger Kehne. While the building doesn’t actually move, the view of the building is designed to appear to change dramatically as guests move around it. “Its form is an experiment for us – it will be exciting to see what comes out of it” reveals Kehne. For most architects-and clients- this would be a scary thing indeed. Shouldn’t the architects already know exactly what their proposition will look like before it is built? For Kehne and partner Eva Castro, co-founders of London- based Plasma Studio, the opposite is true. Architecture must be an experiment, there has to be an element of mystery, chance and dramatic success or spectacular failure. Their work to date have been flexibly programmed spaces, such as hotels and private houses, but imagine the chaos if their radical formal experiments extended to hospitals and airports? “It’s not like Hotel Puerta America” says Kehne a bit wistfully, clearly the absurdly expensive interiors project, completed last year in Madrid, featuring a no-budget, no-holds-barred, dream team was a recent high point in their career. Their work on the much-hyped project was met with overwhelming critical success and their shiny alien landscapes (a ramped corridor with metal stalactites hanging overhead) and sharp, glossy bedrooms (where is the wall? Where is the bed?) outshone the work of more established designers such as Jean Nouvel, Ron Arad and even Zaha Hadid. However at Koenigsarte, there is a budget, a practical client and expectations that this building will enrich the Alpine village... Read more in Mark Magazine Issue 4.
Therme Vals Hotel, Switzerland, Architect Peter Zumthor, Sleeper Magazine
It’s not easy to get to the Therme Hotel, an alpine oasis in the village of Vals, Switzerland, but despite, and perhaps because of, its ‘undiscovered’ rural location, the picturesque Thermal baths and hotel complex by renowned Modernist architect and theorist Peter Zumthor, created its own ‘Bilbao effect’ --thrusting a previously unknown village into the international design limelight through the creation of a signature building— opening the same year as Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao. Zumthor’s Therme Vals bath house, (with refurbished hotel rooms), began work in 1986 and formally opened a decade later. It remains one of the most photogenic Modern buildings and is studied by architecture students around the world. Even the most critical Modernist will accept in hushed tones that it is almost perfect. There are 140 hotel rooms at the Therme complex, in four separate buildings. The site was historically a modest hotel and bathhouse and, in the 1960’s, a hotel was built on a ridge below the St Peters spring source. With the creation of a new bathhouse, Zumthor radically re-designed the interiors of 39 of the hotel rooms which he called ‘The Temporaries’ and connected this existing building via underground tunnel directly to the baths. Guests can actually experience Zumthor’s design through (briefly) living in it—a rarity in Modernism as most significant Modernist spaces either inaccessible private houses, or grand, public spaces, not to be experienced during something mundane as a night’s sleep. Read more in Sleeper magazine's February 2008 issue.
Cover Story: 'Sleeping With Celebs', Hotel Puerta America, Madrid, Frame Magazine
Kube Hotel, Paris, Sleeper Magazine
Located in an entirely unexpected area of Paris for one of the most glamorous new design hotels in the city, entering the Kube Hotel and Rooms gives the visitor the impression of discovering a secret part of the city, a modern boutique hotel hidden behind a listed 19C façade. A discreet metal gate bearing the hotel’s name and an assortment of security staff standing in the alley marks the entrance, but during the short walk from the station to hotel, visitors will be convinced they are lost… With retro-modern furnishings, futuristic styling and cosmopolitan crowd, the geometric theme of cubes (beginning with the entry pavilion) and glacial cool (there is an Ice Bar behind the lounge where the temperature remains a constant –5 despite the outdoor weather) is carried successfully through the hotel’s achingly hip interior. Interior designer Deroy even designs the washroom facilities for the bar, which are located in the lower ground level, via a dimly lit, animal skin textured pink lift. Entering through the chain of beads, a visual feast of colours, textures and patterns adorns every surface. Depending on your tastes (and whether it is breakfast you are eating in the furry lounge/lobby or whether you are visiting the bar for a 2am nightcap) the décor is gaudy and outlandish or vibrant and fun. Certainly no visitor to the Kube bar fails to mention the loos... Read more here.
Opus Hotel, Vancouver, Canada, Sleeper Magazine
Touring the hotel on a sunny afternoon in December, Daniel Craig slides his key card into the door and pushes it aside. "This is Billy's room," he announces as we open the door and step into a deluxe suite with vibrant green walls and minimal decor. "He's a filmmaker and musician from London," Craig continues, as we tour the suite looking at the book on graphic design sitting above the headboard and a selection of trendy electronic CDs next to the stereo. It is easy to imagine a thirtysomething creative relaxing here, with its shoji sliding screen and dark wood entertainment unit bathed in natural light. But we haven't just barged into this man's private room - the hotel has been fitted out to suit five different fictional characters, each with their own custom designed space, colour scheme, furniture and decorations.Read more here.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, Toronto, Sleeper Magazine
The new high-rise Cosmopolitan Hotel in Toronto is a tall, thin pre-cast concrete and aluminium tower with a muted, limestone coloured facade that soars 25 stories above the city's financial district. An exclusive, luxury hotel, catering specifically to a celebrity and executive clientele, the 97-unit hotel was designed by Charles Gane at Core Architects, and opened in late 2005. Every aspect of the hotel is designed with Feng Shui principles in mind, and the project is in collaboration with noted celebrity energy consultant Sylvia Noble, who choreographed 'the flow of energy' within each element of construction and design. This energy consultant is not to be mistaken for the 'green' environmental experts often brought in on high profile urban skyscrapers, although there was an awareness of environmentally friendly design in the small building footprint, sustainable materials and natural light and ventilation....Read more here.
Ice Hotels, Clear Magazine
There will be no ensuite bathroom and room service is not an option, yet thousands of travelers are drawn to Ice Hotels around the world every year. Rebuilt every year from scratch in a seemingly lightweight material, these hotels offer much more than protection from the elements. Experiences can range from traditional and romantic, with most offering wedding services, to urban settings for an unusual city break to the more exotic destinations of Lapland or rural Romania. The oldest and most established ice hotel in the world is 200km north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland Sweden, where Ice hotel has been rebuilt every winter for the past 17 years. The building blocks of the hotel are entirely snow and ice, made from the nearby Torne River. The ice keeps the rooms at a (more) comfortable –5, even as temperatures outside drop to –40 during winter when the sun doesn’t even reach the horizon. Snowcastle in Finland is in its 11th year and in its first incarnation won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for its 1100m long walls. The construction of Snowcastle uses artificial snow, made out of sea water because it lasts longer than natural snow. As standard in ice hotels, the rooms have thermal fleece linen, and extreme weather sleeping bags suitable for arctic conditions. Local architect Mr Ruonansuu designed the 2006 Snowcastle, which was themed ‘Fire’ and for 2007 he will create sculptures and furnishings around the theme of ‘Sea’. Read more in Clear Magazine Issue 22.
Night Hotel, NYC, Sleeper Magazine
With bold monochrome graphics and aggressive interior design, Night hotel appeals to guests in search of a Modern, yet Gothic, ‘Gotham’ in the heart of NYC’s Times Square. Last year saw Night, master Hotelier Vikram Chakwal’s latest venture, (which he dubs a "hautel" (hautel=Haute couture + hotel) open to critical acclaim—shocking in both design and concept. He calls it his ‘masterpiece’ completing Chatwal trilogy in the city that began with Time Hotel in 1999, Dream Hotel in 2004 and now Night Hotel. Next year, his Lambs Club Hotel will open in NYC, Chakram’s first five star venture, designed by French architect Thierry Despont. Night strives to offer a provocative and dramatic experience in NYC’s relatively tame hotel world—the city is renowned for its tiny, overpriced hotel rooms with forgettable, place-less interiors. The opposite is true at Night. Although the rooms aren’t huge, luxury finishes, (from 400 count Frette bed linens to Molton Brown bath products) sexy materials (stark monochrome glossy tiles and huge custom black sleigh beds) and custom décor (wallpaper and carpets bear the abstracted Night logo without being overbearing) are standard. ”All my hotels, (present and future), have a story, a connection to the heartbeat, culture and pure energy of the city they’re in,” says Chatwal. “Night is my homage to New York, its drama, power, vitality and innate sensuality.” Read more in Sleeper magazine's September 2007 issue.
W Hotel Montreal, Quebec Canada, Sleeper Magazine
Close to Downtown and the old part of Montreal, Starwood's W Hotels have transformed the historic Banque du Canada building overlooking the picturesque Square Victoria into a stunning, 152-room, five-star experience. The eight-storey bank, built in 1949, has been refurbished and had a two floor addition by local architects Lemay et Associes, a multidisciplinary office of designers whose work includes architecture, interiors and historic conservation. Hotel amenities include a unique and tiny bar appropriately named 'Bar Tini' for those looking for a stylish and cosy bar that will feel full after only a handful of guests arrive, and Wunderbar nightclub, which attracts all visiting celebrities, from Hollywood actors filming in the city to models and TV personalities. The hotel also provides direct access to the city's underground pedestrian network so guests can escape the harsh Canadian winter air and go directly to conference centre or city centre. Visiting the hotel during Montreal's fashion week, the 'Living Room' concept for the entry lobby, a 3000 ft2, double height 'box' - a striking interior space featuring walnut wood wrapping the floor, walls and ceiling - appealed to each of the five senses. With glowing, bright red Corian acrylic check-in and concierge desks, this seductive interior was the most desirable place in the city in which to see and be seen. It is a theatrical experience with three 12-foot high waterfalls trickling over sculptured glass and dramatically oversized 'community sized' lounge furniture for watching the room. Read more here.
L'Hotel Paris, Sleeper Magazine
Dramatic and unconventional, the charming L'Hotel on the Rue de Beaux Arts has guest rooms so extraordinarily different from each other in decor, guests would imagine a different architect designed each one, and possibly each in a different century. A guest favourite is Room 40, the Ottoman inspired 'Loti' with its unique Turkish furniture and wall hangings. Striking Room 12 is called the 'Leopard' Room because of its 'back to Africa' theme. Room 34, the 'Pompeienne' has a Roman sun mirror above the bed. With only four rooms per floor, arranged around a circular staircase, open to the lobby below, the hotel manages to avoid novelty in favour of high quality design and luxury. The unusual design of the rooms is thanks to the total refurbishment of the property by internationally acclaimed interior designer Jacques Garcia, known for his unconventional designs of hotels, private houses, bars and restaurants from New York to Brussels. In Paris, his excessive and opulent Hotel Costes, despite being open a decade this year, reigns as one of the coolest hotel interiors in Paris. His highly original approach blends oriental and western themes and juxtaposes rich, colourful ornamentation with restrained minimal touches. The result is witty and staying a night becomes experiencing another place, and visiting a fantasy... Read more here.
Hotel Relais Ravestein, Brugges, Belgium, Sleeper Magazine
The story of Relais Ravestein hotel is complex and spans centuries. De Ridder, who was hand picked for the role by owner Paul Derere when he openedthe hotel in 3 summers ago, explains the hotel is aiming to bring together arestored original Carriage house building, that dates in parts from 1172, with two new Modern buildings to create a senseof ‘home’, with warm styling and a hint of modernism. Original art that is for saleturns the small lobby and modern restaurant into an art gallery, (including a white on white relief painting by noted Belgian artist Paulvan Hoeydonk which hangs in the 'The Sixties' restaurant) and hints ofthe history of the place (such as the wall textiles in the breakfastroom which are reinterpretations inspired by the original medieval wallhangings discovered during excavation) bring a strong sense of place tothe Hotel. The rooms are named after the people who historically livedon the present site of the hotel, which in the 15th Century was used as a Carriage House. This quirky touch, making elaborate room names that most guestswill never be able to pronounce such as Boudewijn van Bourgogne or Janzonder Vrees gives a sense of mystery to the place, as do the abstracted stylized graphics of Brugge that line the naturally lit corridors. The décor reflects thejuxtaposition of old and new, foreign and familiar in the history of the Relais Ravestein. Read more in Sleeper Magazine issue November 2007.
Drake Hotel, Toronto, Canada, Sleeper Magazine
"We are inviting international guests into our living room" explains Jeff Stober, owner of Toronto's 19-room bohemian design hotel, The Drake. Located in the up-and-coming arts and design district of Queen West, it has been a major influence behind the area's emergence as the most dynamic neighbourhood in the city, with The Drake's three bars, restaurant, cafe, performance space and sky-yard patio at the centre of the action. Enlisting the help of hip, local designers 3rd Uncle Design and architect Paul Syme, Stober funded a $6m renovation, reinstating much of the original 1890s decor with a contemporary twist. Opened in 2004, the lobby's original terrazzo floors have been restored, with stainless steel railings and mahogany wainscoting paired with vintage furniture and a long blackboard added for scribbling creative graffiti. With a changing roster of invited artists each year, the hotel's interiors are kept lively and exciting. The Drake feels like an artist designed 'clubhouse' (as it has been dubbed in the local press) filled with one-off art pieces and friendly, personal service, allowing a neighbourhood feeling for guests and locals alike. The staff do not have uniforms, they are all from the area, and keen to make suggestions about the burgeoning arts and culture scene. It is clear that around The Drake, a whole community has developed. See PDF Below.
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Dream Hotel, New York, Sleeper Magazine
The surreal design haven Dream Hotel, which opened in 2004, is the concept of one of the most successful personalities in the business--the charming and glamourous actor/entrepreneur/hotelier Vikram Chatwal. His "Hautel Couture by Vikram Chatwal" is an independent hotel group of 9 luxury hotels in 5 cities, with Dream Hotel, the Flagship property (his newest venture the Night Hotel which opened in 2006). Dream is located in New York’s Upper East Side, walking distance from Central Park, and under Chatwal’s leadership, the former Beaux Arts building has been renovated to accommodate 202 guest rooms and 14 suites. The highly conceptual design of Dream hotel is playful and exotic. Conceived of as a place for dreams and for the subconscious to play, the lobby features a 5000 gallon fish tank and glossy black marble floors reflect the vaulted mirrored ceiling. Guests are caught off guard as the distorted light and reflections create a unsettling, but high-energy experience. An enormous copper statue of Catherine the Great, the Dream’s mascot, is one of the sculptures in the lobby, designed as a sort of mini museum. Read more in Sleeper Magazine, September 2007.
Gladstone Hotel, Canada, Sleeper Magazine
Built in 1889 by local architect George Miller, the Gladstone Hotel is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Toronto, the largest city in Canada, home to nearly five million people. With a dream to restore the ageing stone building to its former glory, and redevelop the hotel's concept from a run down flop-house to a 'unique boutique' hotel, an open call for ideas led to the refurbishment of 37 rooms into one-off guest rooms and 14 rooms for use by artists-in-residence and exhibition spaces. The hotel's grand re-opening in December 2005 was an open house weekend, showcasing the final refurbished rooms and allowing the public to view each of the strongly conceptual offerings. 'Teen Queen' by artist Cecilia Berkovic, has walls plastered with magazine images of teen idols and kitsch 80's fashion. The effect is like sleeping over at your best friend's house...in 1986. 'The Trading Post', designed by Matthew Agostinis and Joel Harrison-Off, features a four poster bed using enormous upright logs, exposed brick walls and timber furniture to create an 'country oasis in the city'. 'Faux Naturelle', by artist Allyson Mitchell, is described on the hotel's website as a 'woodsy retreat where lesbian separatist commune meets Storybook Gardens'. Mitchell explains the name of the room as plays on references to nudity (aux naturel) and the feminine (elle) and the fakeness of the world (faux). The decor is just as entertaining as the concept, with an enormous, furry, wall mural complemented by fake rock wallpaper. Aside from the 51 variously sized guest suites, there are two larger suites offering a bit more luxury and extra amenities. Read more here.
Cover Story: Hotel Le A, Paris, Sleeper Magazine
Located in the so called ‘Golden Triangle’ area of Paris, noted for its upscale shops and hotels, Mechiche’s interior refurbishment of this 18C townhouse also gives the guest the feeling of staying at townhouse of a friend who is an art lover, as the space seems homey and comfortable, with its roaring fire and comfortable lounge chairs. The designer collaborated closely with contemporary French artist Fabrice Hybert to give the Hotel Le A a quirky, individual charm and the result it a personalized touch for each space. Original works by Hybert decorate the entire hotel and the ground floor lobby has an enormous colourful wall hanging of abstracted trees, which he did specifically for the space. In the back of the lobby space, a discreet bar with painted exposed brick is to one side (opposite the wall hanging) and a roof light above floods the space with natural light. Glossy reflective tables paired with mirrors makes this small restaurant and bar area pleasant and open with an almost residential feel... Read more here.
Artus Hotel, Paris, Sleeper Magazine
With an aim to ‘live and breathes the spirit of “la Rive Gauche”’ while “paying homage to contemporary style yet remaining rooted to the past”, Artus hotel was reopened earlier this year following a total refurbishment of all common spaces and all 27 guest rooms. Architect and interior designer Pierre Seignol uses a mix of contemporary and traditional furnishings and materials including Murano glass, stucco and fine fabrics as well as creating spaces to exhibit original art. The lobby has fired clay walls and a long, carved, antique oak reception desk. In the rooms, the modern, minimal refurbishment is contrasted with the exposed, original, timber ceiling beams, reminding the guest that this is, in fact, an 18C townhouse. The designer calls this neighbourhood ‘caught between tradition, history and modernity’, and the Artus aims to reflect this. Many of the rooms have balconies with views over the rooftops and the bathrooms have luxurious, white, carrare or arabescato marble surrounding each shower and bath... Read more here.
Hotel Fox, Copenhagen, Sleeper Magazine
Hotel Fox in Copenhagen is not your typical design hotel—conceived of as an art gallery you can sleep in, the interiors have been imaginatively refurbished by 21 international young creatives including Neasden Control Centre (UK), Friends With You (USA), Speto (Brasil), and Pandarosa (Australia). The project is a collaboration between Copenhagen’s Brochner Hotels and German car company Volkswagen to allow young, alternative ‘street’ artists the chance to participate in the reinterpretation of the modern, lifestyle hotel. Strategically marketed, Hotel Fox is a cunning cross between a youth hostel and boutique design hotel, but with an underground feel, splattered with graffiti art and stencilled Manga cartoons. Corridors become gallery spaces and the bar, restaurant and roof terrace have been redesigned as funky and original public space with vibrant colour, graphic wallpaper, and bespoke lighting. Each room is unique and hand made, with enigmatic titles such as #502, ‘The Royal Wedding’, a space inspired by fairytales and designed by UK designers Container, and room #409, ‘Heidi’, designed by Swiss illustrator Benjamin Gudel, with over-the-top Swiss kitsch. The one-off, personal touch extends to the artist’s signatures on their work, as their names are proudly displayed outside each decorated door. Read more in Sleeper's Winter 2005 Issue.