Checking In – Hotels That Elevate a Spirit of Place

Travel primes an awareness of our surroundings. With the change in environment comes a newfound sense of intrigue in the particularities of a place. Thus, hotels are uniquely situated to heighten guests’ experience of a locale. When the design is conceived in conversation with the surrounds, the takeaway is all the richer, encouraging guests’ to partake in locality and community as an element of their experience. There’s an increasing stable of hotels backing this idea, proving there’s merit in crafting unique encounters that connect visitors to places through architecture and design.

Principal at Cheshire Architects Dajiang Tai believes one can fully appreciate the intimacy of architecture by staying in it. This concept lies at the heart of the practice’s recently completed project, The Hotel Britomart, located in the centre of a nine-block heritage precinct in downtown Auckland. Quite uniquely, the architects’ intention was to create a hotel that “feels as if it belongs to Aotearoa and its people, not just the guests who stay there.” Handmade clay bricks and sleek glazed windows define the exterior; it inspires curiosity but feels in keeping with the cobbled lanes and dockside warehouses at its feet. Most importantly, the architecture extends into the laneway, the amenities of Britomart and the surrounding city. Consequently, the hotel is intertwined with its urban setting, feeling true to its locale but equally as inviting to visitors.

It seems that designing a hotel as an integral part of a wider precinct or city naturally enhances the idea of place. Attracting visitors to a certain location works two-fold when the experience transcends that of a single room.

It seems that designing a hotel as an integral part of a wider precinct or city naturally enhances the idea of place. Attracting visitors to a certain location works two-fold when the experience transcends that of a single room. Often, hotels will partner with nearby restaurants, bars and shops to encourage interaction on the periphery as well as within. The Calile Hotel in Brisbane typifies this approach. It is widely celebrated as a veritable destination – for its rooms, restaurant, pool area and bar, but also for its ties to the surrounding James Street precinct.

The role of architecture and design in The Calile Hotel’s success is immeasurable; 15 years ago, local firm Richards & Spence was engaged to design the precinct in Fortitude Valley, and in 2018, the firm completed the hotel. As Director Ingrid Richards says, “The Calile building is the most significant on the site, but it was aided very strongly by all the prior work that gave it a setting that previously didn’t exist. It’s benefited from incremental development and the establishment of a streetscape and campus identity.” The hotel feeds into the network of retail streets and laneways, and notably, there’s a continued materiality throughout the precinct as well as mature landscaping. The consistent architectural language ensures the buildings complement rather than compete and “blur the lines between public and private spaces.” As Ingrid says, “there’s a natural evolution” in the architecture, and “it speaks to the real idea of a precinct.”

It’s no wonder we’re drawn to hotels with a diversity of architecture; staying there offers an authentic and nuanced insight into a new or different destination shaped, inevitably, by design.

Yet, The Calile’s magnetism cannot be defined by any one thing. It has many layers – there is the cohesive ecosystem of buildings in the wider precinct; its multi-generational appeal to local, interstate and international visitors; and its unequivocal contribution to the city of Brisbane. “The Calile has encouraged people to come to Brisbane because it’s provided another breadth to the city – it’s an asset people can partake in,” Ingrid says, adding, “it’s about Brisbane starting to participate in a wider variety of choices – [the precinct] is an element of the city and hopefully it’ll be part of its maturation.”

This idea of creating an “asset” for people to enjoy, use and, on some levels, call their own for a night or two, underpins the design approach to countless iconic hotels. Take Rae’s on Wategos – the boutique hotel in Byron Bay designed by Tamsin Johnson which attracts visitors who seek a slice of the area’s alluring charm. Rae’s leans on the characteristics of the surroundings, neatly curating its ideals and aesthetics into a beautifully crafted retreat. With only seven suites it’s small, and that’s all part of the appeal. To stay here is to experience an exclusive piece of Byron’s inimitable coastal character.

In Melbourne, United Places by Carr demonstrates a similar conceptual approach, capturing Melbourne’s sophisticated and slightly gritty urban persona. As Chris McCue, Managing Director at Carr, says, “the hotel drew upon several key site-specific influences of the Botanic Gardens, South Yarra rooftops and Boyd’s Domain Park Towers.” United Places feels entirely at home in its metropolitan locale; the design, which the architects describe as “an elegant ode to brutalism,” clearly speaks back to its setting through materiality and form. It actively engages with bustling Domain Road and the gardens beyond, yet the rooms present as private retreats. Like Rae’s, a stay at United Places offers a glimpse into how the locals live, and while that seems quotidian, it is in fact a luxury many of us seek.

The identities of these hotels are varied – Rae’s epitomises a breezy coastal feel while United Places personifies urban cool – yet essential to both, and to countless others, is a strong nod to their respective locales and the people who live there. It’s no wonder we’re drawn to these types of hotels and their diversity of architecture; staying there offers an authentic and nuanced insight into a new or different destination shaped, inevitably, by design.