HOTEL REVIEW


ABOVE: A southfacing Luxury Room in the muted grey colour scheme. Room layouts are by Cserni Wohnen GmbH with casegoods by Valiyan OOD Ltd and Corian® elements by Hasenkopf Holz & Kunstoff GmbH & Co KG ABOVE RIGHT: Meeting rooms feature breakout spaces inspired by the patterned sloping planes of the building, and Eames-designed conference furniture


Minimalist and monochromatic, guestrooms are defined by undistinguished yet comfortable furniture with extremely clean lines, sliding glass panels that divide the room for privacy, epoxy floors, and vertically and horizontally sliding window partitions that allow guests to frame city views to their liking. Subtle art by students from the Vienna Fine Arts School and purposely empty shelves and bookcases leave the rooms featureless and one-dimensional, even disorienting, but certainly allow the city to take center stage at all times. Well-planned Corian-dominated bathrooms


feature inventively designed sinks, sleek glossy panels, smoked glass and a silky, velvety surface treatment christened Soft Touch on walls and cabinets, marrying a sensory- rich environment with excellent hardware selections to create a serene and tactile, if monotonous atmosphere, broken only by the green of the Hermes toiletries – most likely to the architect’s chagrin. Suspended high above Vienna, Le Loft Restaurant occupies the top floor of the hotel,


a ten-metre high room with floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a stunning panorama of the city. Antoine Westermann, the three- Michelin starred chef and consultant to the restaurant, serves up inventive Alsace-inspired cuisine under the brilliant colours of another illuminated Rist-designed ceiling installation. At the centre of the restaurant is an elevated bar, The American Bar, which serves as a centrepiece to the space. It’s an ideal vantage point from which to admire views stretching from the Danube to the Kahlenburg forest, eyes dancing over Vienna’s assorted rooftops and cupolas while sipping a cocktail with Vienna’s fashionable residents at one of the city’s hottest tables. Ártica chairs, by Rafa Garcia, and Vela-Dora tables by Dual Design, for Spanish manufacturer Sancal furnish the space alongside custom pieces by Jean Nouvel. From this bird’s-eye view residing over centuries of Viennese heritage, The Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom serves as an earnest representation of a new Vienna, a place where the dialogue between past and present plays out with new and surprising results.


084 SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2011 WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM


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Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom Praterstrasse 1 1020 Vienna Austria Tel: +43 1 90616 3100 www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-6599-sofitel- vienna-stephansdom/index.shtml


„ 182 suites and guestrooms ‰ Le Loft Restaurant  Le Loft Bar & Restaurant, Le K-Fe [ SO Spa (hammam, Jacuzzi, massage) and SO Fit fitness centre


+ 10 meeting rooms (12 – 130 pax.)


Owner/Operator: Viennese Hotel Development Operator: Accor Architect / Designer: Jean Nouvel


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