Project Team

design: Arent&Pyke
architecture: Spaceagency

photography: Anson Smart

Suppliers

furniture: TaitCotswold Furniture Collection, Thonet, Stylecraft, Dam, Temperature Design, District, Hub, Anibou, Jardan, Dedece, Mark Tuckey, Catapult,
lighting: Euroluce, Cult, Fred International, ECC Living, Space Furniture, Great Dane
tiles: Myaree Ceramics, Artedomus,

Alex Hotel responds to the overarching concept of the ‘Hotel as Home’. Together with the client, four key concepts were established for the interior design; ‘the personal’, ‘the escape’, ‘the craft’ and ‘the legacy’, to nurture a sense of intimacy, connectedness and domesticity. With the client, there was always a discussion about ‘Alex’ being someone familliar to us all; an uncle whose home you love to visit, a treasured old friend with a house full of wonderment. The interior design, furnishing and styling imagines the richness, the personality, a sense of frivolity and the layering of a story.

Arent&Pyke sought to create spaces with a personality that resonates with the guest, their inner self and feed their appetite for both privacy and interaction.The escapism we seek and the need for rest and renewal is essential to our wellbeing and in the hotel they created a consciousness of contrasts – dark to light, warm to cold, open to closed – to create the boundaries of private and public space. Bedrooms are richly painted from floor to ceiling for an immersive experience of colour, a little room of respite; serene, yet invigorating.The public spaces of the hotel celebrate coming together, yet the layered experience of furniture and furnishings provides us with solace if we so seek it. Seats are individually enveloping or bountifully communal. Tables are single scale to nest daintily beside us or vastly generous to enjoy the travel tales of others.

Arent&Pyke curated a collection of furniture pieces, bespoke joinery, objects and art that celebrate craftsmanship to create a heightened experience and a lasting impression.

The hotel responds to the area of Perth that is being reborn. Northbridge is a district that celebrates diversity, community, sociability and its rich historic building fabric. The recent sinking of the railway (which previously separated Northbridge from Perth CBD) encourages connection between both districts of Perth city. The layered, bold and iconic design of the hotel hints at the sense of renewal of the Northbridge precinct.

Douglas & Bec were a natural first choice for Arent&Pyke to produce the custom pieces for the hotel. Their wonderful craftsmanship and their commitment to getting a beautiful result resulted in a wonderful collaboration – pleasure to work with. They also worked closely with the architects Spaceagency and commissioned LA-based, WA-born artist Ben Baretto who made the textile piece at the entry and Artbank for the remaining art works throughout the hotel.

Good One Stool

Designed By Alastair Keating. Made from powder coated aluminium sheet, featuring a unique folded construction and punched-cross design.

Tait



When Arent&Pyke were first brought on to the Alex Hotel team, the project was well underway on site, and due to open in just 6 months. The architectural vision from Spaceagency was bold, layered, strong and full of contrasts. The materiality is rich and the scale of spaces beautifully considered from the compressed rigour and rationalisation of the rooms to the progressive opening up the communal guest and public areas. The furnishing and interior design sought to respond to the architecture but also to add a layering of softness and the human scale to the architecture.

Early on Arent&Pyke discussed the colours being muted, washed out versions of strong bold colours. They are known for their use of colour at Arent&Pyke and they didn’t want to shy away from this but wanted the hotel to feel calmly layered with colour. Muted tones of dusty pink, terracotta, sage green and forest green really start the colour journey. It was also about responding to the architecture by artfully applying colour with subtlety, a compliment to the strong and bold spaces created by Spaceagency.