Boutique Design - October 2014 - 36

2 The living room/dining area of
the hotel's new Presidential Suite
features white-on-white furnishings
and area rugs, dark wood floors and
metal mesh chandeliers that are a
nod to Russians' love of jewelry.

Shortly after the Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy
hotel opened its all-glass front doors in Moscow in
2005, a wealthy Russian banker took up permanent
residence in its 28th-floor Presidential Suite. With
that space off the market and increased competition from other new hotels subsequently opening
in the area, it became increasingly obvious that the
hotel needed an update that would include the
addition of another Presidential Suite.
"The market was demanding it and we didn't
know how many more years this guest would stay
with us," explains Katerina Mouravieva, director of
sales and marketing for the 34-story, 235-room
luxury hotel.
The need to add a Presidential Suite led to a
domino effect of changes, beginning with relocating
the Executive Lounge from the 19th floor to the
third floor to make room for the suite, moving the
restaurant from the third floor to the second floor
and implementing a new design in the lobby.
Enter Sydney, Australia-based studioaria.
Swissôtel tapped the firm for the redesign because
its directors, husband-and-wife team Kate and Paul
Greenwood, had handled the hotel's original interior
design while working for BBG-BBGM. Moreover,
since launching studioaria in 2010, the Greenwoods
36

boutiquedesign.com OCTOBER 2014

have worked with ENKA/MKH-the Turkish firm
that owns the building-on a number of additional
projects in Moscow, including creating a conference
room, ballroom and meeting facility adjacent to the
hotel, and designing the lobby, retail and landscaping of the Naberezhnaya Tower.
In revisiting the Swissôtel's interiors, the Greenwoods say they focused on infusing the revamped
spaces with light, glamour and subtle local
gestures. "Moscow is austere and gray, especially in
winter, so we tried to create warmth, a certain
glow, with little pops of color that add vibrancy,"
explains Paul Greenwood.
At the same time, Swissôtel had introduced new
design guidelines specifying a language of "Swissness, freshness and vitality" in its properties. That
concept encompasses high-quality workmanship,
attention to detail and a clean, contemporary
design with locally inspired details and natural,
honest materials-in other words, real wood, real
leather and natural stone.
To help inject those traits into the lobby, studioaria installed three newly designed wood reception
desks that are staggered to provide personalized
check-in for guests. Behind them, locally fabricated
panels in tonal timbers create the silhouette of a

textural motif evocative of Russian onion domes.
Other design details take cues from the building's
glass architecture. For example, bronze statues on
plinths highlight the curved glass wall, lending a
gallery feel to the space, and a glass frame around
the fireplace connects the design to the architecture.
One of the major challenges in the lobby was to
evoke coziness and glamour in a vast space with a
45-ft.-high ceiling. To create a more comfy feeling,
studioaria replaced the previous design's layering of
light tones and red accents with a palette of white,
pearl gray and silver, and hits of amber and charcoal.
Upholstered white chairs and sofas, wood-backed
chairs and silver-hued seating are arranged into intimate gathering spaces on either side of the entrance.
Custom-designed, laser-cut bronze screens lend
gravitas and privacy in the Light Bar, where oversized sofas coupled with armchairs upholstered in
decadent white and silver fabrics create a comfortable nook for lingering over cocktails.
The lobby redesign not only rejuvenated the first
floor space, it also created a better connection to
the second-floor dining area, where a revamped
food and beverage offering was in order.
"The level-three all-day dining lacked prominence, and the fine-dining concept on level two

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