British-based designer Tom Dixon has taken on his first hotel project, the 360-room Mondrian London within Sea Containers House on London’s South Bank.
Business Traveller reported on Morgans Hotel Group’s plans to bring its Mondrian brand to London last year (see online news August 26, 2011), and the group has now revealed that the property will be designed by the Creative Design Studio, under the creative direction of Tom Dixon.
The hotel will be housed within Sea Containers House, a building originally planned for hotel use in the 1970s, before eventually becoming office space.
Mondrian London is scheduled to open in early 2014, and will feature 360 rooms and suites starting from 28sqm, a 61-seater screening room, a subterranean spa with an underwater world theme, and a bar housed within a new “rectangular glass box” wing on the rooftop.
There will also be two restaurants and a bar on the ground floor, seating up to 400 guests and with views of the North Bank of the Thames. These will have their own entrances on the South Bank promenade.
Renderings have yet to be released, but the design will play on the hotel’s location on the Thames, along with the former tenant which gave the building its name, with corridors and room interiors creating “the nostalgia for the cabins of a cruise liner”.
The entrance to the property will be at the back of the building, where there will be a “giant, external and internal, copper clad wall inspired by the hull of a ship, running from outside the building and glamorously leading guests to the entrance hall within”.
While the building is not listed, Dixon said that several original balustrades and “large architectural items” have been stored for use with the new hotel. He added that the design would be inspired by “that special Anglo-American relationship”, combining "American service and innovation" with "British quirkiness".
It’s the first hotel project for Dixon, who has previously been head of design at Habitat and is known for his furniture and lighting designs. He said that features in the new hotel would be “designed from new, rather than using existing products”.
The Mondrian brand currently has three existing properties in New York, LA and Miami, with other developments announced for Istanbul, Doha and the Bahamas. Morgans Hotel Group also operates the Sanderson and St Martins lane hotels in London.
For more information visit morganshotelgroup.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
