Hotel Hotel Ground Floor Interior
Located in NewActon, Nishi Commercial is a large development housing government departments, private offices, cinema and cafes. The lobby, designed by March Studio, projects a unique identity through thousands of lengths of repurposed timber, blurring boundaries while directing views and movement. A grand stair - the stage for performances as much as procrastination – a stacked agglomeration of timber, leads up to Nishi Residential.
This is a multi-storey apartment building, its first two floors hotel rooms. The ground floor contains HotelHotel’s lobby, reception, concierge and bar.
Here March Studio was engaged to create spaces which encouraged residents, guests and visitors to linger. The walls - and the seating, benches, counters - are an attempt to bring the handmade into the rigorous, polished building around. Materials - gluelam timber, concrete beams - sit, unadorned, stacked in a simple manner, overlapping, their joints overrunning and poking out. The main entrance to Nishi Residential, was also part of March Studio’s brief. Outside is a canopy which shrugs off its weight with flowing timber recalling the Commercial Lobby. The entrance airlock is lined with perforated steel sandwich panels, their gaps filled with amber marbles, thick glass which filters the light and warms the space.
