Design
owners and operators. It relies on partnerships with artists both near and far, and it needs a sharp, far- reaching vision of what a property is trying to achieve. Get it wrong and the consequences can be dire; both for the reputation of the owner and the sanity of their accountants. But get it right – by investing in design that keeps its value both financially and aesthetically – and the rewards will come, now and long into the future.
Spying great design
Few people are better placed to appreciate the recent shifts in hotel design ethos than Tina Norden. German by birth, she’s spent over two decades at Conran and Partners in London, helping design some of the most elegant and iconic hospitality spots on the planet. Now a partner and in her 25th year on the job – plus prestigious awards like The Brit List’s Interior Designer of the Year 2021 under her belt – Norden has plenty to reflect on. And as she explains, much has changed from those monochrome days of “little American” Hiltons. “I think it’s more specific, it’s more informed by the client base,” she says. “When you look at what a lot of the hotel operators do – when they look at their brands – they’re very specific about the target audience, they’re very specific about who they’re aiming at”. The reasons for these moves aren’t hard to
appreciate. Perhaps the most important, suggests Norden, is the question of competition. In a city like New York, which as recently as 2019 saw 19,000 hotel rooms slated for opening, owners and operators are having to battle to differentiate their offerings. Broader cultural changes are doubtless important here too. “Guests, developers and owners are more educated nowadays,” says Accor’s Anne Becker Olins. The European luxury senior vice president of design and technical services explains this gives more space for the intelligent showcasing of interesting artwork. Also underlying this is, presumably, the glimmer of a more globalised world. While a traveller in 1970 may have wanted little more than cool beer and a hamburger, the proliferation of new foods and cheap flights has encouraged hotels to promote more site-specific styles. It goes without saying, meanwhile, that these
aesthetic developments are sparking major shifts in how properties are designed. A case in point is the Old War Office. Sprawled across an Edwardian palace off Whitehall in London, the OWO Residences by Raffles, as its new Anglo-Indian owners have rebranded it, is a bewildering testament to the building’s bureaucratic past. James Bond author Ian Fleming once worked here
– as the Aston Martin sculpture in the bar evokes. Winston Churchill was based here during the Blitz – the property’s new portrait gallery reminds passing
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guests. The basic point, stresses Becker Olins, whose employer ultimately owns Raffles, is straightforward enough. “You start by using the existing space,” she says, “and then when it comes to the interior design, and the way space is used, that is driven by the former use of the building.”
The art of the matter If you visit the South Place Hotel in London, it may initially look like any other trendy European property. Sitting on the outskirts of the City of London, not far from the Barbican, its aesthetic is what you would expect for a hotel only an IPA-throw away from Shoreditch. Comfy designer armchairs mingle with herringbone floors and thick marble worktops. Listen to Norden, however, and it soon becomes clear that this is intricately designed to create an
Above: The traditional and extravagant interiors of the OWO Residences celebrates the building’s bureaucratic past.
Below: The cool and trendy location of East London is refl ected in the bar at South Place Hotel.
Opposite: Conrad and Partners leaves art to be the focal point in this suite at South Place Hotel.
Conran and Partners; Accor
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