Hotel Indigo DUBAI DOWNTOWN For its Middle Eastern debut, Hotel Indigo journeys from Dubai’s past as a trading post to its present as a hub for art, fashion and design. Words: Matt Turner Photography: Courtesy of IHG
tories of Emirati culture and heritage, past
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The respect for local arts and culture is
and present, are interwoven throughout
apparent on arrival. In the lobby, a digital
Hotel Indigo Dubai Downtown. Interior
artwork by Turkish-American designer Refik
design consultancy Dsgn has fused traditional
Anadol entitled ‘Wind of Dubai’ stretches along
references with contemporary influences in
the wall behind the reception desks, with an
a fitting response to the property’s location,
algorithm based on the city’s weather patterns
at the point where the historic Dubai Creek
creating an ever-changing, data-driven
meets the Business Bay and Design District
backdrop. Even the reception desks themselves
neighbourhoods that increasingly define the
reference local culture; one is carved in deep
city’s future.
walnut, conjuring images of the large wooden
Like the rest of IHG’s Hotel Indigo portfolio,
gates in the Emirati homes of Nad el Sheba.
the brand’s Middle Eastern debut doesn’t
Another has a metal lattice pattern inspired
subscribe to a cookie-cutter design aesthetic,
by the facecoverings worn by Emirati women,
instead priding itself on individuality and
whilst one more has a mother-of-pearl inlay
leaving no doubt as to the location where guests
as a nod to the pearl-diving industry on which
are resting their head.
Dubai was founded.
Developers Sunflower FZE have also made
In the corridor leading to the Open Sesame
every effort to distinguish the hotel from its
restaurant, dhow boats, traditionally used for
glitzier, more anonymous competitors, to the
pearl-diving in the Creek, are repurposed to
extent that the Dubai Department of Tourism
function as lobby seating. Majlis fabric adorns
& Commerce Marketing (DCTM) made it one of
a bedouin-inspired chandelier overhead. Even
the only developments of its kind in the Emirate
the traditional handmade rugs underfoot have
to be awarded its ‘Boutique’ classification.
a story to tell, having come into being thanks
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