For IF Architecture, a hotel  is much more than a…

We believe that it should offer a warm, intimate, personalised experience. One where we can withdraw from the world to rest and recharge  if desired, but just as easily connect to the city around us, and feel energised by it. Where a hotel’s brand is clearly expressed,  but naturalised to its specific location. Where we can feel special, but also very, very comfortable. With these ideas front of mind, IF Architecture  has developed an approach to hotel design based  on the following five priorities.

Building a physical expression of your brand, imbued with the spirit  of your hotel’s location

Brand consistency is paramount in any industry. But in hotels, the challenge for designers is to create an environment that gives expression to your brand in a way that makes sense in its urban context. We can’t roll out identical properties in every city.

Each hotel must celebrate its specific location, capture its spirit and energy as a travel destination, feel at one with it. Boutique retail brands have a similar imperative, and this can be seen in IF Architecture’s design for the Sydney flagship store for Melbourne-based furniture company Jardan.

The colour palette, for example, takes inspiration from famous localart and design families, namely John Olsen and his daughter Louise, co-founder of Dinosaur Designs, and Brett Whiteley, who have all lived and worked nearby. And the retail spaces are designed like the open, airy rooms in an inner-Sydney home.

The “beautiful but relaxed” brand identity of Jardan is unmistakeable, but it’s been filtered through the colour and light of its Sydney location.

Making destinations within destinations, a place greater than the sum of its parts

Designing hospitality and retail spaces into hotels not only builds a more robust, diversified business model, these spaces can become destinations in their own right.

They attract more people into the property, who bring with them the vibrancy of the host city. So guests feel like they can be in the hotel and in the city at the same time, and have an authentic local experience without stepping out of the front door.

These ideas are reflected in our work at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda, where every space is designed to be part of something bigger. Hotel guests can enjoy a casual meal or drink in the ground-floor bar, which flows out into Fitzroy Street, and buzzes with a diverse crowd reflective of the local community.

For a more formal meal, they can head upstairs to the Prince Dining Room, which itself offers a range of different experiences, and is a prestigious dining destination for all of Melbourne. And next to this, the sunny open-air courtyard acts as a de facto hotel lobby, offering guests and visitors spaces to eat, work or relax.

Most recently, retail has been added to this mix, with Little Prince Wine providing locals and guests with a boutique selection of wine, as well as takeaway coffees and take-home meals. Its design draws on IF Architecture’s rich history of creating unique, immersive retail spaces, for clients ranging from Jardan, to beauty and cosmetics brands Apivita and Novae, to boutique butcher Rocco’s.