special report: hotels All the world’s a stage...
The Radisson Edwardian Guildford, the town’s first four star deluxe hotel, opened its doors on 29th
Key statement elements include a two-storey, September following a £60 million
investment by Marcol, the Nicholas James Group and operator, Radisson. Situated at the top of Guildford’s historic High Street, the spectacular contemporary glass structure, retaining its original 17th
free-standing library kiosk in the foyer of the hotel, giving visitors the impression of viewing the lobby from a private box. Statement furniture will give a feeling of the unexpected, while works of art include original scripts complete with annotations. A feature of the entrance is the vast 3-metre
century façade, forms
a major part of the regeneration of the area, adjacent as it is to the new performing arts centre, G-Live.
Edwardian Guildford. Internationally renowned designer and architect Rabih Hage has led the creative conception of this new
hotel.The prop- erty is anticipated to revitalise the town centre, creating a hub for performance and leisure adja- cent to the new G Live entertainment complex. Rabih Hage, whose previous projects have
R
included the iconic Rough Luxe Hotel, has tapped into the theme of performance to create an experience that will be enriched by the hotels guests, who will by the very nature of their visit become performing artists in a creative, theatri- cal environment. Radisson Edwardian’s Guildford hotel will be
the town’s first four star deluxe hotel offering 183 rooms and suites, two restaurants, a dining terrace, style bar, spa, gym with swimming pool, and conference facilities for up to 400, with seven private meeting and function rooms.
adisson Edwardian, one of the UK’s fastest growing upscale hotel brands, has recently completed the Radisson
chandelier by Czech glassmakers Lasvit, forming a centrepiece within the triple height lobby. Past the library kiosk is a 7-metre high bookcase accessed by the ‘ladder to nowhere’, acknowledg- ing the town’s most famous writer Lewis Carroll, whose Alice in Wonderland books served in part as Hage’s inspiration. Rabih Hage has created the interior of the new
brasserie style restaurant, Relish, at the Radisson Guildford by contrasting tactile dark wood tables and button back leather banquets and chairs on a dark wood floor, with whimsical murals of an idyllic countryside. The pièce de résistance in the restaurant is a long elegant copper topped bar. Rabih Hage gives an insight into his design for
the Radisson Edwardian: “I was approached by the owners of the Radisson Edwardian to create something special and new for the front of house in their new development in Guildford. The chal- lenge for me was how to bring interesting ele- ments to a corporate hotel. “There is a trend starting, which is ‘making
sense’ of sometimes standard places. There is always a story behind a story. which I like to
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‘Theme for this project as ‘Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups.’’
narrate in my projects and the hoteliers are now buying into it. It is definitely a trend that I started with the Rough Luxe Hotel in 2008 and which is developing now in the hotel industry, that is: to tell tales and make people live exclusive and unusual experi- ences. And come back again for it… “In essence what I came up with
for this project is a design concept which works in four dimensions –
three of space, and the fourth is the way you circulate; the time and how the space ages. Corporate hotels usually have good services for business travellers, but there is always a bland approach to interiors. For me, business and pleas- ure should connect. My feeling is that business hotels can improve by adding a new design layer to their proposal; building up a good experience to their existing clientele as well as attracting new travellers by creating a real destination. “What I created for Radisson Edwardian is
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