Project Team

design: Studio BSN and EEKOS

photos: Dion Robeson

Suppliers

furniture: James Richardson, Furniture Options
lighting: Made By Lucy, About Space, Etsy
joinery: Ausdens Bunbury

The Rose Hotel is an iconic Hotel that commenced trading in 1865. It was built by Samuel Rose the Great Great Great Grandfather of the project leader, Michael Benson of BSN Studio. The design was driven by the need to produce a contemporary hospitality offering while respecting the original intent of Samuel Rose

The design approach was to tie together the multiple layers of design history including colonial style architecture and art deco fit-outs of the 1960’s with a contemporary hospitality offering.

The clients brief stated they wanted “a quality heritage feel with a contemporary streak running through it all, an ‘every person’ venue, and capacity for a high number of patrons. And all to a budget of course.”

We created multiple hospitality offerings within the venue to enable a broad market appeal. These included an historic function centre reflecting the colonial styles of the hotel, a modern eatery which re-interpreted the existing art deco elements, a children’s area to provide board market appeal and bar areas to reflect the traditional pub styles of an area gone. All with a contemporary glue to bind the design experience.

We incorporated sustainable principles including adaptive re-use of the spaces, re-use of many of the existing materials and finishes, sustainable products including FSC timbers and LED lighting.

Uncovering and re-using as many of the original features including ceilings, walls and floors not only allowed us to minimise the construction impact on the environment and the budget it also enabled to community to embrace the change.

Great design responds to site, environment and client requirements. With Bunbury being a regional centre and the Rose Hotel the iconic venue we needed the community to embrace the renovation or we would not believer a great solution.

We worked actively with the owners to address not only their business model requirements but also address the concerns and aspirations of the community. As a response we designed multiple offerings within the venue to appeal to a broad spectrum of the market. We are confident the community has embraced are design solutions. The client has provided the following feedback.

“…trade has improved substantially, and is still building. This is despite the menu and staff remaining largely the same. It is clear the new fit-out is the main driver and has had a large impact. The feedback from people has been overwhelmingly positive despite the contemporary improvements to such an old building.”

Babila 2706 Stool

Ash wood barstool with an extreme lightweight look where the die-casted aluminium footrest is perfectly jointed to the legs. Designer: Odo Fioravanti for Pedrali.

James Richardson