The Academy Hotel
LONDON, UK
The Academy is composed of five landmarked 18th-century Georgian townhomes. Our studio was tasked with giving this intimate hotel a modern attitude towards townhouse living, re-envisioning elements including staircases, mouldings, and other specific architectural details. In doing so, we made a conscious effort to couple a contemporary palette with the building’s heritage and architectural details. We celebrated the hotel’s location in Bloomsbury by taking our design inspiration from the Bloomsbury Group, the influential group of writers, artists and intellectuals who lived and worked in Bloomsbury during the first half of the 20th century.
A modern attitude towards townhouse living.
Just as the Bloomsbury Group wasa bridge from the Victorian era into modernity, our design embraces an eclectic mix of traditional English, art deco, and mid-century modernist forms, coalescing in a forward-looking attitude. We were also tasked with creating a new neighbourhood social hub for the young media and academic crowd. This led us to augment the social areas, not only making them inviting and lively but also allowing us to knit multiple buildings of the hotel together so they would have a distinct heart.
A mix of traditional English, art deco, and mid-century modernist forms, but forward-looking in its attitude.
We were keen to celebrate the British tradition of using brightly patterned wallpapers.
We were keen to celebrate the British tradition of using brightly patterned wallpapers. Most have lively motifs that bring humour and charm to their respective spaces. They are conversation starters. We’ve maintained the hotel’s wood floors throughout to ground our schemes in the building’s history. We also employed brightly coloured paints to help add vibrancy to areas that previously felt dark, and bespoke and hand-made area rugs to add an authentic and heirloom quality to some of the areas.
