The word “luxury” in hotel design is always intriguing with a hint of excitement yet it also is intimidating at the same time. In the olden days, just to stay in a hotel was already considered to be a luxurious experience. Nevertheless as time progressed, the definition of luxury for hotels evolved to become more refined and defined into various understandings; starting from the actual experience and service levels right up to the hotel’s architecture and interior design.
Within the current demand and market behavior, it is no longer enough just to have a well-designed hotel. Both the designer and owner also need to present luxury at the hotel throughout the entire guest experience. Aside from personalize service and excellent hospitality; the rest of the experience will lay in the magical hands of a great architect and interior designer. How they interpret and create luxury into the overall design is what makes a hotel shine among its competitors.
During my recent visit to Europe, I saw some of the greatest and most luxurious hotels that are overall unique with strong identities. The word luxury here is interpreted subtly but obvious, as you cannot deny it. It brings the design to another level and into a class of its own. From Amsterdam to Prague, here are some of my favorites:
AMSTERDAM THE FASHIONABLE
THE EXCHANGE AMSTERDAM
Marrying fashion with any kind of project will always deliver an exciting result. This is exactly what happened when visionary owners of The Exchange Amsterdam: Suzanne Oxenaar and Otto Nan (who also initiated Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam and the Llove Hotel in Tokyo) decided to playfully weave together fashion and architecture in unique rooms ranging from one to five stars.
Opening at end of 2011 and located in interconnected buildings on the Damrak, one of the liveliest and oldest streets in the city; The Exchange Amsterdam used an entirely collaborative approach to create the overall design. The pair commissioned students from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) to create rooms using the theme ‘Rooms Dressed as Models’. Through this lens the sidewalk becomes a catwalk. Lights and tables are no longer ornaments but fashion accessories. Creases and pleats aren’t fabric features but more of a structural form.
About 8 students from AMFI: Malu Gehner, Denise de Geijter, Paul Hanraets, Iris Kloppenburg, Juanita Koerts, Sofie Sleumer, Roos Soetekouw and Anne Wolters - were selected to “dress” the rooms. At the end, these collaborations resulted in 61 very unique and original rooms. ‘The Eighties Room’ by Roos Soetekouw for example is dressed in bold and fun 80’s retro inspired styles, outfitted with an oversize black and white patterned sweater and a tight fitting tube skirt in a rainbow of colors. Both graphic knitwear and the rainbow weave have been crafted in the Textile Lab of the Textile Museum Tilburg.
The room where I stayed is known as the ‘Rembrandt Room New’, also designed by Roos Soetekouw and it pays homage to the typical 17th century millstone collar as worn by Rembrandt in the past. The designer decided to take a contemporary approach of this retired luxury fashion statement and make a giant pleated collar that encloses the bed in a cocoon-like 3D origami that uses a remote control to open and close it again. It is really impressive!
The Dutch design studio, INA MATT, was chosen to design the public spaces and the restaurant (Stock) cum contemporary department store (Options!). A collaboration here with a few companies such as Dego Fabrics that specialized in benches made to measure, Brink & Campman for rugs and carpets, Kvadrat for fireproof textile, Mosa Tiles, Audax Textile Museum and Innofa Stretch Textiles to create 3D and tactual structures were done to achieve the overall design look.
To witness and have accommodation experience in a hotel that is fully design like The Exchange Amsterdam is literally a luxury on its own. Every corner and every room will visually amaze you with new design.
AMSTERDAM THE POSH
CANAL HOUSE AMSTERDAM
Located at the serene area of the Jordaan district by the canal, this small luxurious boutique hotel is a hidden jewel in Amsterdam. Home to several merchants and their businesses from the 17th to 19th centuries, this building was converted into a hotel during the 1950’s by an eccentric and flamboyant American hotelier. After being acquired by the Curious Group, who also own Cowley Manor in Cotswolds and L’Hotel in Paris, Canal House Amsterdam has become one of the most fashionable hotels in the whole city.
The public areas, such as the short and narrow halls with its high ceilings, are filled with various reproductions of the most famous Dutch masterpieces to mimic the experience found at the Rijkmuseum. The bar cum reception and the coffee shop area (known as The Great Room) are all dominated in a dark palette with gold and wooden accents. Some of the most renowned Dutch designer products, such as Maarten Baas’ smoke chairs and chandeliers as well as Marcel Wanders’ skygarden lamp, are beautifully displayed at ‘The Great Room’.
The contemporary and glamorous tangibility that is oozing from the public areas are also translated inside the rooms. Divided into 5 categories, all 23 rooms feature a seductive ambiance that gives a comfortable feeling at the same time. Although there no two rooms having the same layout, in terms of design they carry a similar concept combining ebony-hued walls, dark purple velvet bed covers as accents while keeping the building’s original wooden floors. The bathrooms deserve a special mention, as it is so bold and filled full with bisazza murano tiny tiles from the floors right up to the walls. It gives a totally different effect while remaining cohesive with the entire design.
Luxury at Canal House Amsterdam might not be so obvious to your eyes, but surely you wont miss all those beautiful details that are carefully selected and displayed all over the hotel to heighten your lodging experience. Even the daily breakfast here is well orchestrated and very impressive.
LONDON THE GRAND
MANDARIN ORIENTAL HYDE PARK
Expanding on my explanation at the opening of this article, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park emanates with that olden grandeur. A stay at this hotel is definitely a luxurious experience that one will never forget. There are so many things that make this hotel famous, starting from the building itself up to the fact that this hotel has played host to so many world leaders and royal families including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
The building itself is located at one of London’s most prestigious areas in Knightsbridge and the only one that is facing directly to Hyde Park. It was built in 1889 as an exclusive ‘Gentlemen’s Club’ with lavishly furnished drawing and dining rooms, a billiard room and a smoking room. The usage of red brick and Portland stone in an eclectic Franco-Flemish style was intended to create a dramatic skyline. Loggias or rooms were designed for family suites and bachelor’s suite.
The palatial interior decoration and use of marbles as well as gilding were years ahead of the best London hotels of the time. The hall, entered from Knightsbridge through swinging doors of carved walnut, was lined with colored marble and had a frescoed ceiling, as well as a marble chimneypiece complete with a marble clock. Stairs of white marble flanked with balustrades led to the upper ground floor. The interior style continued into the communal rooms including the coffee shop area that overlooks Hyde Park.
After the big fire in 1899, the building was renovated and period fireplaces in the style of Louis XV and XVI were installed. The furnishing echoed the 18th century style of Sheraton and Hepplewhite; thus the private ‘Gentlemen’s Club’ finally changed into Hyde Park Hotel in 1902. When Mandarin Oriental took over the management in 1996, they closed for 4 years and spent £57 million for restoration before re-opening it in 2000.
Still keeping the original grandeur feeling, Mandarin Oriental changed the interior style into modern Victorian. A palette of gold, browns, creams and beige with splashes of red or royal blue are the design colors that creates the ambiance echoing with a traditional English touch. This continuous ambiance is also well implemented in their spacious rooms ranging from 34sqm (courtyard room) to 242sqm (the royal suite), with equally big and impressive marble bathrooms in black and white.
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is also known for its ‘Royal Entrance’ that is preserved for Royal use only, unless permission is otherwise granted by the Royal household. According to the hotel, this gate was last time open during Prince William and Kate Middleton’s pre-wedding party. Luxury in this hotel has been living as long as the building exists and it will still continue for many more generations.
LONDON THE HERITAGE
THE LANGHAM
It is definitely not easy to be one of the oldest and the first “Grand Hotel” in Europe. Since it was first opened in 1865 by King Edward VII, The Langham in London has been in existence for 149 years and still retains its amazing grandeur and quality.
The story of The Langham, London dates back to 1814 when the architect John Nash bought the site and constructed a 275ft wide mansion. Lead by architects John Giles and James Murray, who not only spent £300,000 on construction but also made this building into one of the largest in London at that time. It is a palace of 7 floors with 600 rooms, 300 water closets and the first ever hydraulic lifts. At that time, The Langham was designed to capture the graciousness and elegance of the Victorian era by combining the styles of the grand country house, the sophisticated town house and the comfort of an English gentleman’s club.
As history goes, the Langham that is located at Marylebone district went through some transitions, especially during the war and great depression. During the Second World War, The Langham became a venue for platoon of soldiers as well as BBC recording studios. Luckily in 1986, this building’s primary function returned back as hotel after The Ladbroke Group purchased the hotel for £26 million and returned The Langham to its original Victorian splendor. In 1991 The Langham Hilton was officially opened until the hotel’s owning company Langham Hotel International took over in 2004. In 2009, the hotel unveiled an extensive restoration program that has taken five years and a total of £80 million to complete. Leading hotel and restaurants interior design specialists: Richmond International was appointed for this challenging project and the result is simply breathtaking.
The new makeover of The Langham now has 380 rooms with restored Palm Court – famed as the place where the tradition of afternoon tea was born, a new business center and 15 function rooms including The Grand Ballroom.
References to the heritage and style of the hotel are evident throughout the public areas with decorative details incorporated into custom-made bronze and glass gates and metalwork feature panels in the reception.
Going into the bedroom, we are introduced to a scheme that reflects a period of English residence where contemporary and traditional elements are combined with touches of paisley throws, decorative accessories from the Far East and Europe, hint at the eclectic mix of styles that would traditionally have been found in heritage domestic interiors of the 19th century. The color of precious stones with soothing effect such as jade, topaz, amethyst and ruby are selected with greys, ochre and soft whites to create a subtle contrast.
New outlets such as Artesian bar, Roux at The Landau restaurant and the private dining room, Postillion, were added to the hotel with a design by the famous designer David Collins who is known for his penchants on luxury interior design. It is quite obvious that The Langham, London is not only going to keep their grandeur tradition, but heighten it into the new luxury paradigm.
COPENHAGEN THE MODERN
RADISSON BLU ROYAL HOTEL
To build something ahead of time is never easy, especially when the era is far from ready. This is exactly what happened with Arne Jacobsen’s first and only hotel: SAS Royal Hotel - or now known as Radisson Blu Royal Hotel. Built from 1956 to 1960, Jacobsen was given the opportunity to design what has been called “the world’s first designer hotel”. He designed everything from the building and its furniture and fittings to even the ashtrays. For that era, Jacobsen is trying to show an entirely new understanding of what luxury is about from a more modern design point of view.
The entire hotel, from the exterior façade through to the stainless-steel cutlery (known as ‘AJ Cutlery’) used in the restaurant and the Swan and Egg chairs gracing the lobby - was designed by Arne Jacobsen. However with the handover of management, corporate standard fabrics have replaced most of his work and furniture, thus the hotel is often referred as Jacobsens’ Lost Gedamtkunstwerk.
The present hotel lobby is in many ways still reflecting the 1960’s original design. The room is delimited by a shopping zone. The glass panes of the shops separate the lobby from the hustle and bustle of the street, but lets daylight into the room, resulting in a calm yet exclusive ambiance. Arne Jacobsen originality, such as the curved staircase with both Swan and Egg chairs adoring this reception area, can still be seen.
Luckily, the current management still keeps a room with its original designs with shades of blue-green dominated the entire design. Here, we can see the implementation of modernism principals as well as Arne Jacobsens’ sense of proportion. It has all of the original blue-green furniture, grey carpet and the wenge wood panels on the wall. Renowned as Room 606, it will surely bring you to July 1960 when the hotel was just opened. The difference is that this room now offers new technology such as the state of the art Bang & Olufsen TV and Royal Club amenities.
Another Arne Jacobsen famous design product known as the “3300” sofa series that was designed for the airport terminal in 1956 can also be seen in Room 606. The make-up mirror, radio and intercom system was built into the unit furniture. The lesser-known and very rare “The Drop” chairs was designed specially for this hotel and can also be found in this room.
During the design phase sketches of the building where published in a Danish newspaper, Arne Jacobsen received many critics fearing this first skyscraper building will destroy the traditional skyline of Copenhagen. The building was compared to a punch card and often said as a worst copy of Lever House in New York. To that, Jacobsen responded: “At least, it came in first when they held a competition for the ugliest building in Copenhagen.”
The hotel went through to some various style periods since the mid 1960’s with latest renovation were completed in 2001 and now all the newly decorated rooms are furnished in the typical light Scandinavian style. Both iconic “Swan” and “7” chairs are also used from the lobby, rooms to the restaurant.
If only Arne Jacobsen was still be alive today, he would be more than happy to know that this twenty storey high hotel is not only famous but it has also become a defining characteristic of the Copenhagen skyline. There are not so many hotels in the world that has had just a single designer to do the entire hotel design. What Arne Jacobsen has done was really remarkable for his time. His ultra-modern hotel design that showcases subtle luxury might be ahead of its time, but it is surely one of the best iconic design legacies that withstood the test of time.
PRAGUE THE MINIMALIST
HOTEL JOSEF
In a city that is filled with grand architectural masterpieces from baroque to classic; art noveau to art deco and even cubism; one can only imagine how to make a new contemporary building that can fit in with
its surrounding.
Hotel Josef was built by the renowned Prague-born architect Eva Jiricna over a decade ago and has become a design success story and proof that new and contemporary design can live in harmony with its predecessor without being a “pink elephant” (or white in this case). The 109-bedroom hotel is holistically designed from the outside-in to respond to its exceptional surrounding. Inspired by the concept of neo-classical building style that have lines of windows in the surrounding area, Eva Jiricna gave a breath of modernization to this concept by creating a sleek sliding window glass with a transparent mini metal canopy on each window of Hotel Josef.
From the monotonous yet stylish façade to inside the hotel, we can see the usage and implementation of minimalism concept. Structure here uses relatively simple elegant designs with clean and fine finishes. Ornamentations become accents that come in forms of single bold colors of tangerine and fuchsia. The stunning grand spiral staircase for example, located at the center of main entrance and connected to the basement area, is made out of glass with metal bones, showcasing both industrial and space age style in which are elements that support minimalism. Eva Jiricna who is known for her steel and glass staircases’ design, aims to make a statement by putting it right in the middle of the room but in a very subtle way as the stairs is almost hidden.
Like the grand staircase, the room’s design also involves glass and steel with openness achieved by housing the pale-limestone bathroom in a glass box and the big sliding window juxtaposing the bed featuring Prague’s amazing city skyline. The muted yet serene ambiance in taupe and grays makes the room appear more spacious than its actual square footage.
Inside the two buildings that are connected through a charming garden, Hotel Josef is furnished with some interesting designer furniture to complete their overall aesthetic framework. I saw Baleri armchairs in the room and Philippe Starck’s Eros tangerine and fuchsia chairs by the hall, while the Marcel Breuer Cesca chairs with matching tables are displayed beautifully in the breakfast restaurant.
Hotel Josef being Eva Jiricna’s largest completed building to date really shows her originality in terms of attention to detail and work of a distinctly modern style. By utilizing lighting effects and material characteristics, she maximized space in an intriguing manner. Luxury in here comes in a minimalist concept where less is more, though style is never left as an after thought.
PRAGUE THE CLASSIC
THE AUGUSTINE
A hotel building design does not always have to be entirely newly built. Around the world stunning palaces, mansions and even jails have been turned into functional hotels. However, I have never before stayed in a hotel that is still running as a monastery at the same time. The Augustine in Prague is definitely a unique luxury sanctuary that is located in a monastery and could be the only one of its kind.
The Augustine is actually a compound of seven buildings, with the oldest building dated from the 13th Century. It is a monastery for the Augustinian Order who came to Prague in 1285. As a compound, this monastery shows interesting multifaceted architectural and design styles from medieval, gothic, late renaissance, early baroque, to even modern classic. The first building ever built in this compound, The Chapel was built in 1400 prove the medieval substance of this sacral building and its architectonic and artistic value. Since then the Order kept on adding new buildings including a library in 1603, housing area and more wings, and even a brewery in 1656 that produce the famous St. Thomas beer.
In 2004, the 7 friars of the Order decided to share 80% of monastery compound with a hotel management, as it was vacant and dormant. Thus after renovation, The Augustine was finally born in 2009 and became one of Prague’s most beautiful 5–star hotels. The new refurbishment of this historical compound retains the original elements such as cloistered terraces, stone arches, iron doors, vaulted ceilings and beams. Modernity arrives mostly in the form of pieces from Modernista, a local furniture dealer, featuring the sharp lines of art deco chairs and cubist couches gently contrasting with the gothic arches and baroque swirls above. The result is an upscale hotel that conveys ecclesiastical serenity, but not monastic austerity.
London-based interior designer RDD who worked on this hotel successfully converted the old monastery cells into 101 plush rooms with its own uniqueness. Two or three cells are joined to create larger rooms and suites, including the stunning marble bathrooms with heated floors. Heavy linens in papal-inspired shades of purple, red and orange create serene warmth, while furniture inspired by 1930’s Czech Cubism gives the rooms a quirky edge. One of the most unique rooms in this hotel: the Tower Suite is a three-story penthouse that once served as the monastery’s observatory. It includes a floor for lobby and living space, a bathroom floor and top floor for the bedroom with panoramic views of Prague and its castles. It can even be said that this historical compound has been beautifully restored without losing a single layer of its glorious design. While staying in this hotel, you can also visit the friar’s living quarter and their grand Church of St. Thomas the Apostle. Spend some time in this church, as the stunning layers of interior styles and decorations from mid-14th Century frescoes to the beautiful paintings of Martyrdom of St. Thomas and St. Augustine on the Sea Shore by Peter Paul Rubens on the altarpiece will definitely entertain you. The Augustine is a fine sanctuary, where luxury is subtly implemented into the whole guest experience.