Melbourne Place Hotel

A new-build 16-storey hotel in the centre of Melbourne, this project was generated from the particular architectural and cultural identity of the city of Melbourne. The proposal incorporates a fully engaged ground floor plane with shops and the hotel lobby facing Russell Street and hospitality venues opening onto laneways. The building also includes a first floor event space & balcony over the street , along with a roof top restaurant.

Independent hotels are rare in Melbourne, but Melbourne Place is a true unicorn because it is a new hotel brand in a brand-new building, and the development of the brand and the design of the building have informed each other from the very beginning so that the identity of this hotel is expressed in every part of the physical building and its interiors.

The design of the building derives from the particular architectural and cultural identity of Melbourne generally, but more specifically, the actual site. The mass and scale has a twentieth century quality, reinforced by the highly modelled façade.  This architectural expression positions Melbourne Place amongst an esteemed lineage of some significant nearby buildings – The T&G building, Cavendish House and right next door, Hero, the old Russell St telephone exchange. Depth and shadow is achieved through the deep wedges of tinted pre-cast, which in turn rests on a hefty brick plinth with massive reveals. Street activation is extensive and nuanced, creating multiple new activities and interfaces along the street frontage and laneways that surround the site.

Melbourne Place is a rare contemporary example of complete design, where both the building and the interiors are designed by Kennedy Nolan, who significantly, were also involved with the development of the hotel brand.  The outcome of this design consistency is visual unity and a sense of seamlessness.  Sensibilities around space, volume, light, colour, texture and detail are consistent from the urban scale down to the furnishings lending a sense of substance, a complete vision, each element reinforcing and amplifying the brands unique character.

The building exterior is tonal, muted and natural, made from bricks fired in an historic western Victorian brickworks and warmly tinted pre-cast concrete and highlighted with deep red and metal accents and window frames.  The bricks flow into the interiors where they meet colour – sometimes intense, sometimes moody, sometimes playful, always memorable.  Interior colour is set against large areas of complementary natural materials – West Australian jarrah,  terrazzo blends developed specifically for Melbourne Place and metallic accents in brass and corten steel.  Fixtures, fittings, lights, carpets and furniture have largely been sourced from local makers and designers, many made specifically for Melbourne Place and form part of a rich overall palette.  Local artists have been commissioned, not simply to adorn, but to represent Melbourne culture – contemporary, sophisticated, urban, multi-cultural and grounded in the lands of the world’s oldest continuous living culture. The effect is visually fresh but uncannily familiar and this is because it is an authentic representation of place – it is a hotel which could only be made in Melbourne.