MAAPS’ design brief was to create adaptive, business-dedicated, executive interior guestrooms located two and three floors below ground. The new guestrooms are refined and individual spaces with high quality well-proportioned bathrooms. All are fully focused on delivering the functional and technological needs of a business executive. Nothing is superfluous.

The most obvious challenge is designing rooms that are entirely windowless. At first glance, “windowless” seems so unwelcome and unappealing. However, embracing the lack of natural light became our creative impetus. We directed our attention to the finer details: how to choreograph introduced light and how to envelope guests with a generous atmosphere of warmth, calm, and comfort. For these answers, we dug deep into our maritime design heritage to emulate the mood and sophistication of an inboard cabin on a luxury yacht.

The shared circulation space outside the rooms includes an artwork installation capturing the ambience of an external garden square. A combination of photography and layered glass panels form an optical, verdant, vertical hedge, an interpretive recreation of the views of Lincoln’s Inn Fields outside the hotel. The scheme, and the design concepts deployed in this project, demonstrate Club Quarters’ expertise and enterprise in developing novel guest room solutions. The Club Level Classic and Premium Suites are a successful exploration of how to imaginatively utilize windowless and potentially unproductive space.

This project was shortlisted for the 2017 International Hotel & Property Awards – Global Hotel Suites Category.