The design of Hotel Hotel
Hotel Hotel in Australia’s capital city Canberra is the result of an intense collaboration of artists, designers and makers to create a space that represents the visual culture of Australia.
Rather than borrowing from European and American understandings of what a hotel should look and be like, Nectar Efkarpidis, Hotel Hotel’s founder and aesthetic curator Don Cameron, created and applied a unique Australian vernacular to the hotel.
The rooms are a re-imagination of the Australian shack. Channelled with raw materiality they feature clay rendered walls, natural fibre wallpaper, salvaged oak beds, accents of brass and aniline leather contrasted with patinated mild steel and eucalypt oriented strand board. They have been dressed with original artworks from a wide range of local and international contemporary artists with curious and beautiful objects collected over ten years.
The furnishings seen throughout are a selection of salvaged and re-upholstered min-twentieth century furniture and one off designs by Cameron. Handmade, artisan undertones are echoed throughout all elements of the hotel’s carefully considered design.
Leading up to the hotel is the grand stair. Made by artisan carpenters, the grand stair is an explosion of thousands of pieces of wood salvaged from the original building site itself, a basketball court and a house. The grand stair leads to the hotel foyer, bar, lounge, library and secret garden. The library is stocked with books from a small press publisher and distributor, Perimeter Books. It includes titles on art, architecture and design.
Hotel Hotel sits within the Nishi buildings in Canberra’s arts and culture precinct, NewActon.
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