Staying power

Trish Lorenz checks into a variety of hotels across a broad price spectrum – from budget to boutique. They all have one aim in common: giving the guest a memorable experience

High-end

MyHotel Brighton – Interiors by Karim Rashid, realisation by RHWL Architects

Fact file: 96 rooms, bar, restaurant

Rates: yet to be confirmed

The £14 million central Brighton MyHotel is due to open in January 2006. It is the third in the MyHotel chain, and its flagship. Of the four hotels featured here, it has the largest design budget, and is the only one to employ the services of an international designer.

Created in a style that RHWL Architects director Colin Hobart describes as ‘the Maharishi meets Freddie Mercury’, the interiors are a flamboyant, futuristic and organic creation, very much in the vein we have come to expect of Rashid.

Public areas feature a seamless black terrazzo floor with a white border, its moulded finish extending to the skirting, which curves flawlessly from the floor. Walls and ceilings are also white, but walls are angled, ‘slightly off-kilter’, says Hobart.

‘We’re using simple colours and letting the physical make an exciting contribution,’ he explains.

The lobby, with its oval-shaped reception and leaning walls that feather into the ceiling, features a 5m circular roof light designed by Rashid. Further inside is an atrium with recessed seating and benches, also created bespoke for the venue by Rashid. A ‘cave-like’ bar area, featuring a sculpted, floating bar, comes off the atrium.

The 96 bedrooms are spread over three floors, and doors use LED lighting for room numbers and housekeeping messages.

On the first and second floor, bedrooms feature glazed bays that project out from the wall and seem to float high above the ground. In many rooms, the bed swivels, allowing guests to choose the direction of their repose.

Bedrooms are also devoid of corners and, instead, filled with curves. As you walk into the room, a rounded wardrobe on one side and a curved, coloured glass wall on the other lead you gently from the door into the interior. The organic glass wall also features in the bathroom, as well as mosaics on walls, floor and ceiling.

Colours throughout the hotel are muted, with pastels and white predominant. Each of the three bedroom floors features a different colour, representing earth, cloud and sky. Details of who will create graphics have yet to be finalised.

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