The NewActon precinct is Canberra’s new cultural hub, the place where business and culture travellers, art lovers, students, and locals mingle. One uniquely Australian hotel stands out in this distinctive destination.
Hotel Hotel is a holistic concept founded on fertile principles of sustainability, community and diversity—located on three levels of the Nishi residential building, a sustainable “vertical village” that contains facilities that deliver the best of global cinema, independent book and pop-up stores, music, and local cafes and bars.
Hotel Hotel occupies three floors of the newly constructed Nishi residential building. Designed by Australian architectural firm Fender Katsalidis, in close collaboration with Japan’s Suppose Design Office, the intention of creating beautiful, sustainable apartments for a house-obsessed Australian market has been beautifully executed.
The residences are built from recycled timber and off-form concrete, generating an urban-scale interlocking geometrical structure.
An exquisite grand stair, handcrafted from re-used and salvaged timbers, leads visitors to a hotel foyer more reminiscent of a living room than a lobby. The hotel public spaces are fashioned from humble materials, while bespoke furniture commissions, art, and collected objects feature in all of Hotel Hotel’s 68 rooms and 31 hotel apartments.
The design was realised by accomplished filmmaker Don Cameron, who brought his exceptional eye for framing, colour and texture to construct engaging visual narratives.
Features such as bespoke joinery made from reclaimed oak, wallpapers made from natural fibres and earthen clay rendered walls show a raw materiality. Shared passions for restored 20th-century furnishings, collected objects and a limited-run production of new pieces inform each room.
The hotel public spaces celebrate creative imagination and encourage diverse and intimate social uses day and night. The hotel bar and lounge, a “main street” for guests, has an obsessively curated food and drink menu.
