Hotel Lighting

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Lindis Hotel Ahuriri Valley, New Zealand

Nestled in the pristine Ahuriri Valley in the South Island, the Lindis Hotel is New Zealand’s latest luxury lodge. The property is situated in an idyllic 6,000-acre plot of wilderness, with uninterrupted views of mountains and meandering rivers. Featured throughout the aweinspiring Lindis lodge, London-based Cameron Design House’s bespoke, sculptural lighting emanates exquisite beauty. Set within the magnificent New Zealand countryside, the Mahlu circular pendant lights can be seen illuminating from the picturesque baron landscape. Effortlessly hovering from the ceiling of the striking, glass fronted lodge, the pendants create a warm and inviting glow by emitting light from both above and below the rings. Sophisticated in design, the bespoke lighting pieces perfectly link the modern and sculptural interior of the hotel with the great outdoors. The Mahlu’s vivid radiating glow can be seen whether relaxing in the hotel or exploring the rugged surrounding land, projecting the stillness of nature in refined luxury. The pearlised diffuser and wide profile gives the Mahlu a discerning elegance, allowing it to fit seamlessly into any interior. Available in a polished or brushed brass finish, as a single ring or a combination of rings in a variety of sizes, the versatile Mahlu light from Cameron Design House offers a spectacular statement piece in any residential, hospitality or commercial space. camerondesignhouse.com

Nobu London Portman Square London, UK

The design narrative for Nobu London Portman Square was focused on an atmosphere of timeless elegance and contemporary luxury. It was determined by interior architects David Collins Studio that lighting was to be an essential element in creating the right ambience and that it needed to be able to change the scene and highlight different tones and materials during different times of the day. When it came to statement decorative fittings, they chose bespoke lighting manufacturer Dernier & Hamlyn, which they’d worked with previously on numerous projects, including the hotels Gleneagles and Adare Manor as well as Harrods Men’s Superbrands. The artisan team at Dernier & Hamlyn used its extensive experience and wide-ranging skills to produce more than 100 individual light fittings crafted from brass and hand finished in bronze. They feature in the most spectacular areas of the hotel including wall, ceiling and pendant lights in the restaurant and bar and private dining room. In the lobby twelve colonnade wall lights are installed in the ceiling, which were formed from brass sheets cut by hand, all pieces were then individually silver soldered and finished in a unique bronze shade created and specified by the David Collins team. Light is softly dissipated through the panelled shades created by sandwiching luxury Spanish parchment between glass panels. Lyn Newcombe, Dernier & Hamlyn’s Head of Projects says: “This project utilised many of our team’s skills to ensure the lighting we manufactured achieved the quality and attention to detail required. The lighting they produced for Nobu Hotel London Portman Square is even more exquisite than we hoped for and we have no doubt that the hotel’s guests and diners will have their experience enhanced by the mood it helps to create.” dernier-hamlyn.com

Stilwerk Hotel Heimhude Hamburg, Germany

Stilwerk Hotel Heimhude is an Art Nouveau villa with a history of more than 150 years, in which a new chapter is just beginning: the meeting of young and old, the encounter of striking charisma and modern design. The villa with 24 rooms, library, lounge, gym and garden has been lovingly transformed into a contemporary, charming home. “For the lighting design, it was a challenge: every room is different, both in terms of size and furnishings,” says Erol Siegert-Knop, Occhio senior lighting designer, who has worked on the project from the beginning. Each room is a showroom. Clear lines, harmonious colour worlds, discreet lighting scenes provided by various Occhio lights from the Mito, io, lui, leì and Sento series. The lighting scenarios are controlled via an app using the Occhio Air system. Whether in the morning in the breakfast room, in the afternoon in the library or in the evening at the bar, the guest always feels noble and comfortable. Instead of a cool design, something was created here with heart and soul that celebrates the idea of sustainability with handmade manufacturing quality - and invites inspiration. High-quality, modern interior and classic stucco elements create an exciting and harmonious atmosphere. The io verticale on the walls create a real “at home” feeling. The British-styled cosy library is characterised by the “Elephant curry” wallpaper. The mobile lights were also chosen because of the adaptable furniture and spread a warm feeling of space, while outside the door the big city beckons. Each of the 24 hotel rooms are unique: size and furnishings are individually different. What unites all the rooms are the high-quality materials and a style that reconciles the classic with the modern. The changeability of the luminaires from the lei family is ideally suited to accompany this symbiosis with different lighting moods. www.occhio.de

| RG NAXOS HOTEL | HOTEL PROJECT 032 Volcanic Vibrancy

THDP's Nicholas J Hickson sits down with Editor Sarah Cullen to discuss the design influences for the RG Naxos Hotel at Giardini Naxos in Sicily. The scheme takes strong aesthetic cues from the towering Mount Etna located above the resort.

Images: Giorgio Baroni

RG Naxos Hotel at Giardini Naxos, Sicily, has recently opened and is set to become a new Delta Hotel by Marriott. Designers THDP were brought on board at the end of 2019 to complete the new scheme for the hotel that was previously built in the late 1970s. Huddled against the Mediterranean coast and cradled by the imposing Mount Etna, the hotel's position is idyllic and unique. The hotel features 296 guest rooms, suites, two penthouses, two restaurants, lobby, gardens and beach, all of which were designed by THDP. darc caught up with lead designer Nicholas J Hickson to find out more about the chosen aesthetics and their inspiration. “The hotel was first built back in the late 70s as a Holiday Inn, so the rooms and hotel are therefore atypically large for the area; the hotel was then a Hilton Hotel – but has now rebranded as a Delta Hotel by Marriott. The client is an Italian family, which owns many other hotels in Rome, Milan and other areas of Sicily,” explains Hickson. Mount Etna and its volcanic landscapes played a key role in the team’s design concept and choices for materials and objects throughout the space. Its natural beauty and supernatural presence, along with the nautical, seaside features of the island of Sicily, were brought together into a central point of design in the lobby. By adding local decoration, artworks and colours, the goal was to add character, a deep sense of authenticity and a refined and resort-based palette of natural tones with touches of colours of the sea. What made this a stand-out project for the team, was its location. “Being in the shadow of Mount Etna, gave us a real opportunity to tell stories - La Sciara restaurant in particular features dark grey rough lava stone walls, and enameled lava stone bar and tables - the theme is dark, brooding just like the volcano above it,” says Hickson. The hotel is also categorised as a MICE hotel for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. It provides an elite space for professionals in a tailor-made hospitality setting. From the outset, THDP considered adding a new lobby bar to the

centre of the space, defined as being both a visual anchor but also dividing the space and making it feel more intimate. This new layout allows workers and leisure guests to cohabit in an intimate space. The style is elegant, Mediterranean with sea colours and Taormina’s stone colours blending the indoors and outdoor colour palettes. In terms of lighting this space, Hickson says: “The lobby area for the hotel is very large, and previously didn’t have an anchor feature, to encourage guests to use it. A very early idea from THDP, supported by the client, was to activate this space as a new lobby bar, Quintessenza. Therefore, the lighting needed to be completely manageable to transition the space from a fresh place to have a coffee, to a cool cocktail bar in the evening. We built lighting into and over the bar and added lighting to the back of some new banquet seating, which had a room divider effect with a rattan screening and new Laos wall lights were added by Aromas del Campo. These are a wonderful collection of dried grass wheels, which are back lit - perfect for a seaside resort. Overhead fans were also added to give a cooling and peaceful atmosphere. “For us, lighting not only provides a functional but aesthetic enhancement to any space, so as this was a MICE hotel used by both business and leisure guests it was important to light the spaces well, but also to enhance each area,” explains Hickson. “Generally, the meeting rooms have recessed ceiling lighting, with inset LEDs so the lighting is invisible but completely manageable. For the restaurant here too, the lighting was generally lowered, and new pieces of furniture, such as buffets etc. had built-in lighting at touch points to help guests navigate. “The decorative lighting brands we chose included: Aromas del Campo, Faro Barcelona, Utu Lighting, Marset, Aldo Bernadi, Contardi, Servomuto.” Speaking of how the lighting was integrated into the entire interior design and what it brings to the spaces, Hickson says: “Without good

lighting there is no interior, ensuring that there is not only light but there is dark is the key for us, allowing spaces to transition from daytime use to evening is so important to our front of house spaces. So lighting placement and control is key. Too much lighting, or lighting in the wrong space simply ruins a good design.” As is the case with so many projects these days, the THDP inevitably encountered some issues with completing this design during international lockdowns, which caused numerous delays throughout the process. “The client initially wanted the interiors of the main front of house areas built during the spring of 2020, THDP were appointed in December 2019. With Covid rather interfering with this plan the works were finally carried out in the autumn of 2020 and spring 2021. Clearly the intent of the interior design being in such a wonderful location as Sicily was to keep the design, selection of suppliers and finishes local. This way we could rely on the natural heritage of these materials within our design. “Like everyone else THDP soon became fluent in meeting online, of course this affected the review meetings, luckily we have a team placed in Italy so we could always attend meetings personally and review samples and materials with the client directly. Of course we prefer to meet the client face to face, and we now recognise that by doing so, you really avoid misunderstandings, and you can not just show your work to your client but get immediate feedback from them. Moving forward we will revert back to meeting clients face to face.” Luckily for the design teams, the brief for the concept did not change over the course of the project. However, as is typical, the budget did “mature over time”, and due to the age of the building, necessary additional costs came into play to cover civil works that had not originally been accounted for. “Some value engineering took place, but in the end it was through direct procurement opportunities that savings were made – and therefore in the end many of the items specified by THDP were included,” says Hickson.

Design by Stefan Diez

THE NEW ERA OF LIGHTING

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Overall, the final outcome of the design is something Hickson and the team are “immensely proud of” despite working with the challenges brought on by Covid-19. “I think if we had the opportunity to visit the property more we would have had a better result, as the project was more or less completely designed in lockdown, it suffered due to obvious misunderstandings, which caused some delays - that said, we are immensely proud of the final result. “I think the balance of using a local design vernacular mixed with a modern take on interior design works really well, not making it kitsch, but rethinking local tradition and making it feel more contemporary - perhaps given more time it would have been possible to add more artwork, and accessories to amplify this,” he concludes. www.thdpdesign.com Design Details

RG Naxos Hotel, Sicily, Italy Interior Design: THDP Design Architect: Architecna Engineering Messina Lighting Specified: Aldo Bernadi, Aromas del Campo, Contardi, Elle Gomiero, Faro Barcelona, Marset, Omio Lighting, Servomuto, Utu Lighting

Taking its design inspiration from the supernatural elements of the volcanic Mount Etna, the RG Naxos Hotel presents a beautiful, vibrant, yet calming design for its luxurious resort. The team at THDP consciously chose to use local products and finishes to maintain an authentic representation of its georgraphical placement. Using decorative lighting pieces, lead designer Nicholas J Hickson created poetic moments of focus for each space, which brought the schemes together in a cohesive aesthetic suitable for tourists and business visitors.