Hospitality Design - April 2011 - 124

perspectives

places: stockholm

Below: Oversized lighting adds a playful touch to Nobis Hotel’s lobby. (Photo by Louise Billgert.) Right: A Stockholm cityscape wraps a planned bedroom for the renovated Nordic Sea Hotel.

Need to get to the airport? Take a ride in one of the hotel’s eco-chic hybrid limousines. At a more accessible price, Victoria Towers will open this September in the “Swedish Silicon Valley” about six miles out of Stockholm. Part of the Scandic Hotel Group, Victoria Towers breaks away from the group’s customary branding which is basic and boxy. Created by internationally known Swedish architect Gert Wingårdh, the hotel is set to be anything but basic. The striking hotel, named after the Swedish Crown Princess, will have 299 rooms and a skybar on the 34th ﬂoor. Shaped like an enormous twinkling “T,” the tower will soon mark the skyline as the second tallest building in Stockholm. Like all Scandic hotels, Victoria Towers will follow a strict sustainability code structured around the Nordic Swan label and overseen by an on-site sustainability manager. In fact, Scandic takes environmentalism to another level as they are the only group in Stockholm which converts leftover foods into biofuel for city buses using an Envac machine. They also purify their own water, which is sold in reusable glass bottles, designed by a Swedish artist. “The challenge is not to buy the equipment,” says Scandic’s Helena Söderberg, “but to train staff members to think environmental.” their own architectural drawings subtly repeat throughout; the reception desk is done in rusted shipping steel; natural materials like stone, wood, and wool are mixed with glass, leather, and metal for a decidedly modern feel; and sustainable custom furniture and light ﬁxtures add a sense of playfulness in their shape and size. “The process was completely freed from design principles and selfimposed ‘regulations,’” say CKR founders Marten Claesson, Eero Koivisto, and Ola Rune. “The mix-and-match, almost anything-goes, atmosphere that pervaded our process was most rewarding. Serious, absolutely. But also a lot of fun.” Stefano Catenacci is also the culinary magician behind Nobis’ restaurant Caina, which serves traditional Italian dishes with a gourmet twist. With an open-style dinning room, Caina oozes cozy sophistication. The centerpiece of the room is “Mama Cloud,” a light sculpture designed by architect Frank Gehry. Gray marble and custom-woven, sound-absorbing draperies give rich texture to Caina, which also serves as the hotel’s breakfast room. Nobis is also soon to be certiﬁed by Nordic Swan, an eco-label demanding hotels to meet extremely high environmental standards. Also a leader in sustainable hospitality, the Nordic Sea Hotel holds the Nordic Swan label and ISO 14001 Ecolabel. The centrally located hotel is currently undergoing a $6 million makeover by Alexander Lervik, which will render it more stylish and earthfriendly by 2012. No two of the 367 rooms will be the same, as Lervik plans on enveloping them with wallpaper made from various images taken in the city by Swedish photographers. A proliﬁc product designer, he also plans on infusing spaces with his custom creations made speciﬁcally for the hotel, including chairs made by Moroso and light ﬁxtures made by Dark. “You could say that after the renovation the hotel will feel a little like a boutique hotel, only on a much larger scale,” he says, noting that the hotel decided to do away with minibars to save energy. “One of the greatest challenges was to ﬁnd a sustainable concept for the smallest rooms, which measure 107 square feet on average and are windowless. It’s a question of creating efﬁcient accommodation and an appealing guest experience at the same time. One element of the solution was photo wallpaper which displays 360-degree vistas of Stockholm’s many fantastic views.”

124

hospitalitydesign

www.hospitalitydesign.com

http://www.hospitalitydesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - April 2011