GRAND HOTEL / NOBÉL

The restaurant at the GRAND HOTEL, long tables around an olive tree beneath a ring of light

Commercial space

In progress

Scope: Interior Architectureplanning, materials, joinery and light
Status: In progress

The GRAND HOTEL is a resort on the coast built in a Palladian manner: a domed rotunda at the heart of the lobby, columns in pale stone, and long windows onto gardens and the sea. The proposal keeps that frame and changes what is placed within it — the reception wall, the furniture, the colour of the lounge — and offers it in options, from travertine and glass block to carved timber, a painted garden and a coastal blue. The restaurant is built around a living olive tree.

Lobby / Four Options

The lobby was drawn four ways from the same three places: the reception wall, the rotunda and the lounge. The architecture holds still; the wall behind the desk, the centre of the rotunda and the colour of the room are what each option changes.

01 / 04Travertine and glass block

Reception, a stone desk before a wall of glass block — Reception

The rotunda, columns around an open floor and tall windows beyond — Rotunda

Lounge facing reception, rust armchairs on pale rugs — Lounge

Restaurant / Three Options

The restaurant is set around an olive tree, its booths curved in rings about the trunk. Three options dress the same room: ivory upholstery, cognac leather beneath timber arches, and pale blue around a tree in flower.

01 / 03Ivory and stone

Curved booths ringed around the olive tree — Booths

Booths and tables beneath arched niches — Dining room

Lobby

The lobby turns on its rotunda. Columns stand around an open floor, the reception is a single block of stone before a lit wall, and the lounge beyond is gathered around a fire.

A stone relief beside the passage to the rotunda

The rotunda toward reception, glass block between the columns

The rotunda opening onto the lounge, olive trees either side of the fire

Lounge around a stone fireplace, rust leather armchairs

The lounge from its corner, sofas and armchairs in groups

Restaurant

The restaurant is planted rather than furnished first: an olive tree at its centre, lemon trees along the counter, and booths drawn in rings around them. Statues stand in the niches between the windows.

A classical figure in relief above the tables

A statue in an arched niche, tables beyond it

Table by an open window, a fountain and lemon trees outside

Guest Rooms

The rooms are quieter than the public floors: timber overhead, plaster medallions, a fire, and the terrace and the sea at the end of each.

Guest room, a white bed beneath a timber ceiling

Seating in the guest room beneath a plaster medallion

The bed facing a fireplace and the terrace

Writing desk at the window, a round table before it

Bedside, a pendant light over a curved table

Option 2

The second option panels the reception in carved timber and sets an olive tree at the centre of the rotunda.

The rotunda in the second option, an olive tree on a round table

The passage with the stone relief, second option

Option 4

The fourth is the coast brought inside: sea blue in the lounge, a garden painted on glass behind reception, and pale blue booths around a tree in flower.

Lounge in sea blue, round mirrors either side of the fire

The rotunda toward the lounge, hydrangeas at its centre

The passage with the stone relief, fourth option

Tables by the open window, fourth option