Hospitality Design - March/April 2015 - 92

special feature lifestyle brands
3. A guestroom (or
Chamber) at Virgin
Hotels Chicago, divided
into distinct zones by
wood sliding doors.

Photos courtesy of VIRGIN HOTELS

4. The reception desk, a
vintage oak cigar sales
counter from the 1920s,
is backed by whimsical
artwork.

3
distinctive spaces, the dressing room and the
lounge, allowing for flexibility and seamless
room service; and the custom Lounge Bed,
which features a corner seat on the bed opposite
the headboard. "You can work and play at
the same time in your bed, which seems to be
what people are doing today," Leal says. Adds
Gronda: "Couples typically sit next to each other,
not facing each other. So we added a second
headboard that's in no way imposing, leaving
room for guests to experiment and use their
imagination."

4
yourself-too-seriously voice. Skewing toward
women travelers, expect "a comfortable and
efficient home away from home with a simple
and modern feel," explains Diego Gronda,
managing and creative director of Rockwell
Group Europe. "Understated and playful, it's the
ultimate pied-à-terre with a relaxed 'in-yourown-living room' ambiance."
"Our proposition was always to build a
better hotel room," Leal says. That equates to
both design and operations: street prices and
customization capabilities for minibar goodies;
a layout where rooms (called Chambers) are
divided by custom wood sliding doors into two

092

March/April 2015 hospitalitydesign.com

Design Details: A dramatic red-carpeted
grand staircase leads to the hotel's signature
restaurant-bar-hangout hybrid space dubbed
the Commons Club, where 75 percent of the
original, highly ornamented two-story coffered
plaster ceiling was restored, and an oval-shaped
bar clad in red leather and zinc demands
attention. The registration desk, a vintage oak
cigar sales counter from the 1920s, is backed by
"artistic reinterpretations of the stuffed animal
masterpieces" recreating famous works of art,
and a musically inspired chandelier is a "wink to
Virgin's roots in music," says Gronda. "Fun and
whimsy are present everywhere throughout the
hotel. There's a lot of instability and uncertainty
in the world, and we like the notion that lifestyle

culture should be increasingly immersed with
humor."
Upstairs, guestroom corridors give the
sense of entering a private residence from
the street, thanks to carpeting that takes its
cues from pavement, and red wall lamps and
British townhouse-inspired red guestroom
doors. Inside, expect great lighting, a dedicated
vanity area, a massive shower, natural wood
on furniture and finishes, and gray felt
wallcovering. For other touches of Virgin's
signature color, a few red tiles stand out in the
otherwise all-white showers; suite desk chairs
are ruby Vespa seats; and there's a retro cherry
Smeg minibar. "This project represents a new
kind of luxury hospitality experience-one that
is defined in non-glittery terms and breaks the
classic, traditional codes," Gronda says.

Outlook: Nashville (headed up by BLUR
Workshop and Mark Zeff) and New York (being
crafted by VOA) are up next for the brand, with
plans to open two hotels a year for the next seven
to eight years. "Virgin Hotels is for the mass
consumer, but we're not going to roll out 60 or 70
of them," says Leal. "We want these to be special
and unique places that are grounded in their
community, and that can help us bridge the gap
between lifestyle and legacy hotels out there."
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