Woods Bagot took a local approach in its transformation of the InterContinental Sydney hotel making it a space equally suited to guests and Sydney’s public.

Key features

The renovation of the InterContinential Sydney hotel was directed at localizing the space, which dates back more than 170 years. Overlooking the Sydney Harbour and adjacent to the Royal Botanic Garden the building blends the three-level historic Treasury Building and a 32-storey tower belonging to the hotel. The private space remained elusive to the public, but its redesign led by Woods Bagot sought to restructure the narrative and activate the space equally for guests and locals alike. The renovation revamped guest rooms, public areas, and restaurant and bar venues. Blues and greens reflective of the sub-tropical Sydney are used in guest rooms, connecting them with views of the surrounding area.

The former atrium connecting the two buildings has been transformed into a bar space with chevron black and white tiled floor, ample plant life. At the new entrance of the hotel, the same marble used in the bar is present on a pleated stonewall . The reception desk makes use of spotted gum wood, a material endemic to Australia. The rooftop hosts a bar, which is open to the public – though it wasn’t previously – allowing locals to access the views. Local materials and design references and public access, make the space not just a hotel for visitors but a local destination. ‘Hotels now are really competing in the free-standing market when it comes to restaurants and bars, and we want to ensure they are completely relevant to what Sydneysiders want to have, and sit proudly and independently within Sydney’s sophisticated bar scene,’ says Jennifer Brown, General Manager for InterContinental Sydney. 

Frame’s take

‘Where enlisting locally based designers to weave some domestic character into the fabric of globally branded offers is by no means groundbreaking, it is symptomatic of a market increasingly driven by the ever-elusive desire for authentic experience,’ we wrote about how global hotel groups are considering localization. ‘Designing for locality is about far more than the guest experience, however, as where guests come and go, appealing to the surrounding community is the most efficient means of both integration and immersion.’ The benefit of designing more localized spaces is not only to guests who are increasingly in search of authentic experiences but also to locals whose patronage can be valuable in the long run. Creating spaces reflective of the context they occupy helps a hotel – or hospitality space in general – to feel organic and not alien to their surroundings. While hotels part of global groups benefit from the corporate infrastructure, creating a genuine hospitality experience does not result from a uniform approach which is why their design strategies should embrace local designs and designers.