BIGGEST RENOVATION CHALLENGE AND HOW DID YOU TRIUMPH?
RENOVATION PITFALLS: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR THE QUESTION COMPILED BY: BOYD FARROW
“When you look at an historical building, many elements have been added over the years which have no architectural significance. It’s essential to understand what is true heritage and what is someone’s idea. You have to strip it to the bones of the true structure, you want to preserve and layer on to that. For Claridge’s we are able to buy the brick from the same, original kiln that made it over a hundred years ago. Grand hotels have to invest in design and
infrastructure or they will fall
behind. But you have to be in sync with what people like and stay true to the heritage.” Stephen J. Alden, chief executive, Maybourne Hotel Group
“The biggest challenge was the fact that we stayed open during such a significant renovation, and this at times caused disturbances for our guests and traffic flow inconveniences. We would make significant efforts to create barrier walls and alternative hallways for guests to pass through the lobby by actually putting up proper sheetrock walls, with sconces for lighting and sealed ceilings so that guests had safe, clean, clear pathways to move through the hotel. So even though the lobby was an-ever changing configuration, we constantly did additional construction to keep guests feeling comfortable.” David Chase, general manager, The New York Palace
“One of the most challenging
processes of the restoration was the
painstaking cataloging and
photographing of every piece of furniture, artwork, light fixture and
accessory that was removed and sent for restoration or storage. We had to document everything that was here, then use all the photographs to determine what pieces could be refreshed and reused. Nearly half of them remain, infusing the new interiors with a sense of history.” Paolo Lorenzoni, general manager, Gritti Palace, Venice
“Getting everyone concerned
to agree on the plans in the first place. Prior to the Peace Hotel’s renovation, it was partitioned into a much smaller, disjointed space in which the atrium area was a shopping arcade and the west flow areas were occupied by China Telecom. It took much negotiation by the ownership with various parties to re-claim most of the lost areas.” Kamal Naamani , managing director, Asia Pacific, Pragma Group, formerly general manager Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
“Eight 2,500-pound custom- designed, 16’ x 16’ chandeliers for the New York Marriott Marquis’s two-story ballroom were assembled like a jigsaw because the elevators were not large enough. Access had to be provided to virtually every interior point of them, which meant their faces—which each comprise 130 to 150 pieces—had to be designed with
drop-in glass and
acrylic panels. For safety, because of the various heights of components we had to incorporate two sprinkler heads, each finished with piping and clusters of crystal. Proper support was achieved via a 16-hang-point intermediate
23 structure between the absolutely enormous
building structure and the chandelier. Finally, we remotely located all power and programming equipment over an adjacent balcony”. Deborah Forrest,
co-founder of architecture design firm Forrest Perkins
“Because The Opposite House was not originally designed as a hotel at all, we needed to visually break up the
entrance
hall. This was especially important as there is no actual reception desk. The designer Kengo Kuma’s solution was to create a six metre-tall acrylic apothecary unit, with more than 6,000 drawers. This play on traditional Chinese furniture is a room divider, an artwork, a conversation piece and an informal back-office all in one.” Anthony Ross, general manager, The Opposite House, Beijing
“The hotel did not want to be a Disneyland nor a potpourri of Swiss clichés, so Foster and Partners’ participation was key. Everybody was competing with this new cult of star architecture and for Zurich it was very important to also have a name on the map. The duality of the traditional and the modern − the historical atmosphere of the main building alongside the clean, purist style of the new wings makes the Dolder Grand unique in my eyes”.
Thomas Schmid, director of business development,
formerly managing director, The Dolder Grand, Zurich
CONCIERGE
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