Grzywinski+Pons: ‘Urban Villa is a 100 room hotel in west London. The property is unique in that it is a hybrid between a boutique hotel offering and an aparthotel. The first step of our intervention within the existing building was subtractive — revealing structure and services where we could. On the ground floor we designed the reception to double as a full bar, taking both cues and inspiration from traditional English public houses — pubs — where historically there were rooms to let and the barkeeper doubled as an innkeeper. We chose a palette that is bright and welcoming yet robust and functional — an environment where it felt just as natural to ask for extra towels as it would to order a cocktail.
The lobby also hosts a cafe we designed for the same day-to-night mutability. A series of communal tables and more private breakout spaces sit between screens and under ceiling rafts. We wanted to balance the abundant glazing and high ceilings with vertical breaks, warm and authentic materials, lush vegetation and texture. The space, while legible, light washed and convivial, is subtly apportioned into varying degrees of public and private space though void of any walls.’
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