Hotel has cohesive design – from a faceted facade through to room interior detailing

Hotels often rely on their great setting or proximity to shopping destinations or commercial hubs to draw guests to their establishment. The West Hotel in Sydney has both these advantages, but creative design – inside and out – make the contemporary, 182-room hotel an attraction in its own right.

The brief was to design a building that responded to the character of the Western edge of the Sydney CBD, yet popped out as offering something quite unique, says James Fitzpatrick, principal of Fitzpatrick & Partners, the studio that undertook the design of the boutique hotel.

“The design borrows ideas from the surrounding buildings of this part of the city, but then abstracts these elements to create something special,” says Fitzpatrick. 

The diamanté studded or ‘Chanel handbag’ façade concept was born from this thinking, as a way to visually define and animate every room at the hotel as part of its visual attraction.

“Essentially, every room-size window frame acts as a proscenium to the guest room’s internal activities, and this creates the energy of the building,” says Fitzpatrick. “Whether it’s lights on or lights off, curtains open or closed, voyeuristic or private, this variability of use creates the variety of visual expression which is the character of the building.”

The individual prisms have two solid aluminium facets to minimise solar gain from the north. Plus, the generally square modules were halved for a more vertical shape on the far left side of the front facade. This creates an accent that complements the verticality of a heritage building alongside.

However, the one-of-a-kind faceted facade appears on the other sides of the

 building too, as well as in the oasis-like atrium. It is even echoed in the shaping of the roof plant, as several adjacent taller buildings look down on the hotel.

To let the drama of the facade and the movement in the rooms predominate, the architect kept the colour and material palettes simple and elegant.

The hotel’s interior design was by Woods Bagot, with senior associate Jacqui Senior at the helm.

“The hotel’s siting and architecture are unusual for Sydney, qualities that were eagerly taken up by the interiors team,” says Senior. “We really embraced its difference, and drew from the crystalline geometric pattern of the façade in creating a consistent story across the interiors scheme.”

The patterning appears in different guises and scales – from the floor patterns in the restaurant and entry, to the faceted faces of the marble bar, to its use on lift lobby screens, balustrades and even on bedheads in the guest rooms.

“Sydney is such a bright, light-filled city and its hotels traditionally focus on the views out,” says Senior. “Here, we took a different approach and instead focussed on that rich internal experience that’s done so well in Europe.”

At eight storeys high and open to the elements, the hotel’s mini-rainforested courtyard atrium is a key element within this design strategy. The atrium is visually connected with both the hotel lobby and restaurant, and is overlooked by guest rooms.

Referencing the open-air space, Woods Bagot’s global design leader Domenic Alvaro says organic design and lush-luxe are siblings in an international trend to bring natural beauty and its calming effects into high quality design.

“Contact with nature is both a basic human and universal need,” says Alvaro. “Biophilic design, which integrates architecture and nature – in this instance, urban nature – is increasingly supported by research findings on its wellbeing benefits.”

Overall, the interiors scheme references the colours and textures of the Australian landscape. A palette of richly dark eucalyptus greens and greys are the colours of the bush, with deep blues and greens referencing the harbour.

Guest rooms feature a sophisticated light- industrial aesthetic. The detailing of materials and form are highly considered with soft, dark tones in the bespoke carpet, walnut and brass accents.

“The end result is a building that sits comfortably within its CBD context,” says Fitzpatrick. “West Hotel is defined by how it is used, and the visual richness of its character and expression.”

Story by: Charles Moxham

Photography by: exteriors, John Gollings; interiors, Felix Forest