In my never-ending quest for new experiences that will help me do my job, I have enrolled in an interior design class on materials and finishes. As far as color goes, it's important to be able to translate color into a variety of other materials, like stone, fabric, metal, wood, ceramics... the list goes on.
So, last week was my first day of class.
For our first assignment, we are designing a prototype hotel room. We took a tour of a couple nice hotels in San Francisco, the
Westin, and the
Four Seasons, for an up-close and personal examination of a typical room at each establishment.
The first room we saw, at the Westin, was clean, elegant, but didn't knock my socks off. The marketing and sales rep went on and on about how they wanted their rooms to feel like home, and be cozy and inviting. It was rather amusing to hear the customer service reps wax prosaic about design elements.
When our concierge at the second hotel started going on about how white paint is a must to make a ceiling feel higher, and that all light colors open up a space, while all dark colors close in a space, I had to bite my tongue to remain politely silent. It's really hard to keep silent when you know someone has it all wrong.
Take this amazing room at the Gramercy Hotel in NYC. I don't see these gorgeous ceilings getting in the way. (of course, it doesn't hurt that they are nice and tall!)
For the first step of our multi-part assignment, we have to come up with a client profile, and settle on a look based on some historical style. The hotel has to be located in San Francisco, and we have to use the same 350 foot floor plan. What would you do?!
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7 comments:
Do you pick a real hotel or just make up one. I'd pick a little hotel, a B&B type place if it has to be real.
Oh, wait. It has to be one with a big suite...hmmm. I like old stuff, so I'd try to find a hotel from the 20s or 30s. Then, put wall paper on the ceiling like they did back then. (Ha, that will show her.) I love colorfully painted ceilings.
we have to use blueprints provided by the teacher (similar to the one in my post, about 350 sf), but we get to make up the hotel. It just has to be located in San Francisco.
Yeah, I am definitely going to use color on the ceiling, for sure! since the elevation shows that the ceiling is only 8' at it's highest, I am thinking of using black. I've seen some small spaces with this treatment, and it's amazing how it just makes the ceiling disappear. Not what you would imagine, right?
Remember to overcompensate with extra task and ambient lighting fixtures if you are designing a black ceiling. It will make the ceiling disappear, but it will also soak up every footcandle of any lighting you get near it. Make sure you have light thrown in several directions to balance this out. Hotel guests also want any spectacular day and evening views they've paid for, too. Watch out for large reflective wall finishes, if your views are a hotel selling point. You don't want them to look out at the night skyline and see: themselves, the shiny wallpaper behind them, the glitzy chandelier, etc. all reflected back at them in the window glass. Show up what you pick! Good luck!
OK, so this is right up my alley - I do this all day long. :) First, let me say that I am with you on the "ceilings don't have to be white" thing. Over these last few years, the only color I can get any head-hauncho to consider other then white, would be off-white (haha) or light blue (to reflect the "sky")...*sigh*. one day in my dream world, I will be able to do an orange ceiling or something outrageous and nobody will be able to tell me that it's going to "feel like a cave"!
Second, three cheers for the school you are attending for starting off with a hospitality assignment rather then residential or commercial! I think that the hospitality area of design is so often overlooked by educators.
Third, I would choose something in the lines of the Sir Francis Drake hotel. There is already a history and a story line that you can play into. Then the "historical style" you need to created is already there for you and it is more like a restoration - mixing old with new - which is always hip! ;)
good luck!
Cathryn- thanks for the great insight on lighting and keeping an eye on reflective surfaces. this room does have a floor to ceiling window, so i wouldn't want to ruin the view! really great tips.
Katrina- ooh, we'd love to see some of the hospitality spaces you've done. If you could email me at rachel [.] perls [at] gmail.com, i could do a little write up.
great idea with the Sir Francis Drake, too
Oh! The Drake! I actually did have that one in mind when I wrote my last comment. It's settled. Use the Drake.
Wow, I took my Materials and Finishes class so long ago it's all pretty fuzzy.....but we never got to tour hotels and do all that fun stuff you're doing! What a great experience, Rachel.
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