performance

hotel design, interior design, FF&E and art advisory

guildford, surrey, england

A 183 key hotel with, two restaurants, a dining terrace, and spa in Guildford, Surrey.

Inspired by the theme of performance, Rabih Hage has created an experience that will be enriched by the hotel’s guests, who will by the very nature of their visit, become performing artists in a creative, theatrical environment. “In a hotel we are on a stage; we are at the same time the actors and the spectators.” says Hage.

Interior or a large hotel lobby with a large crystal chandelier and other dramatic theatrical elements decorating the triple height volume.
Interior view with the timber lobby cube with seating inside and a working station on top, accessible via stairs on the back. Above is a massive crystal chandelier.
view of artworks climbing up the triple height wall to one side of the lobby.
The stairs leading up the back of the timber lobby cube, with a view of the theatre lights above.
View of the top of the lobby cube from the nearby catwalk, with a view behind of a 7 metre bookshelf.
Detail of one side of the lobby with buttoned upholstery on the banquette, and lovely Pascal Stools by Rabih Hage.
Detail of whimsical cast iron hanging bird lamps suspended at varying heights, by Patrice Gruffaz.
Detail of the 7-metre bookcase with a ladder-to-nowhere inspide by Alice in Wonderland.
Detail of the restaurant with antique crystal chandelier and silver elastic wrapped "Mummy Chair" by Peter Traag. Trompe-l'œil wallpaper with grand interior photography by Massimo Listri decorates the wall behind.
Detail view of the curved copper-clad bar with a pleated red satin pelmet curtain curving in line with the bar.
Detail view of whimsical line-painted wall murals in one area of the bar.
Detail of banquette seating in the restaurant with the cast iron bird hanging lights suspended at varying heights.

area: 30,000 ft²

client: the marcol group

Key elements include a two-story, free-standing library kiosk in the foyer of the hotel, giving visitors a unique vantage point from which to view the lobby from a somewhat removed location. Statement furniture provides a touch of the unexpected, while works of art include grand photographs by Massimo Listri and portraits by Jonathan Root.

One talking point is a vast three metre chandelier forming a centrepiece within the triple height atrium and a seven metre high bookcase accessed by the ‘ladder to nowhere’, acknowledging the town’s most famous writer, Lewis Carroll, whose Alice in Wonderland books served in part as Hage’s inspiration.

“In essence what I came up with for this project is a design concept which works in four dimensions - three of space, and the fourth is the way one circulates within that space; for me a hotel is a theatre of many lives, marking people and creating encounters. Travel opens up opportunities, thoughts and somehow allows one to experience an ephemeral, nomadic life different from the everyday. It is like a role in a play, the guests are the actors on the stage that we have created in the hotel here in Guildford.”

Collaborators: ICA Studio for architecture and Rabih Hage for interior design

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