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hotels, hospitality & sports facilities
the best hotel interiors don’t start at the front door
at Tate+Co explores how the exterior design of hotels inform the interior spaces...
A hotel experience does not begin with checking in at reception. It starts much earlier, with the journey towards the building, the surrounding landscape and the first impression created by the architecture, setting expectations before a guest has even stepped through the door. That matters because people do not experience individual spaces in isolation. Guests move through a sequence: from landscape or streetscape, to entrance, reception, communal spaces and eventually their bedroom. Each stage influences how the next is understood, and any disconnect between them can make the overall experience feel less coherent. For hotels in particular, that journey has
become increasingly important. Guests are looking for more than accommodation. They want to experience and connect with the destination itself. Landscape, climate, local materials, heritage and cultural identity can all contribute to that experience, provided they are considered as part of the design from the outset. The relationship between exterior and
interior needs to be deliberate, but that does not mean the two should look identical. Continuity might be achieved through shared materials, colours, framed views or references to the surrounding landscape. Equally, contrast can be powerful.
A warm, protective interior, for example, may be designed as a deliberate response to an exposed coastal environment. Our work with Watergate Bay Hotel in
Cornwall demonstrates how this can work in practice. Set immediately beside the beach, the hotel’s distinctive coastal and surfing character became an important influence on both the external architecture and the experience inside. As part of the recladding and
reconfiguration of the existing building, the former restaurant was converted into bedroom suites, with new interventions designed to improve views and strengthen the connection with the surrounding landscape. Natural timber used externally continues into the entrance, lobby and bedrooms, while existing local stone was reused at the entrance. Working closely with interior designers
Dynargh Design, the intention was not to create a literal seaside theme, but to allow the character of the location to inform the guest experience. Architecture, interiors, materials and views work together to give guests another way to engage with the destination. Our project Wildhive Callow Hall in
Derbyshire, developed with our client Wildhive Collection is a listed country house which sits within a historic landscape
setting, making the relationship between the building and its surroundings central to the experience. Working alongside interior designer Isabella Worsley, the design seeks to reinforce that relationship throughout the hotel. A new glazed garden room creates a strong visual connection between interior and exterior, allowing guests to remain conscious of the landscape while inside. Elsewhere, striking murals and the interiors more broadly reference the ancient woodland and treehouses within the grounds. It illustrates an important point about designing for a sense of place. Bringing the outside in does not necessarily mean reproducing exterior architecture internally. Sometimes it is about retaining a visual connection with the landscape, elsewhere it might mean interpreting the history or character of a location through materials, artwork, colour or atmosphere. Early collaboration between architects, clients and interior designers allows the team to think collectively about arrival, layout, views, materials and atmosphere. Maintaining that dialogue throughout the project also means decisions made on one side of the building envelope can inform those made on the other, rather than creating two independently designed halves of a building. Ultimately, the exterior establishes an emotional expectation for the guest. The interior then has an opportunity to continue, reinterpret or deliberately contrast with that narrative. The most successful hotels recognise that guests are not simply occupying a series of rooms. They are moving through an experience that begins with their first encounter with the setting and continues throughout their stay. When architecture, landscape and interiors respond to one another, that experience can feel genuinely rooted in its location, giving guests not only a better hotel, but a stronger sense of the place they have come to visit.
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