The Kube is dominated by one particular geometric shape in its interior design. Designers Raymond Morel and Christiane Derory have given the U-shaped building, located in a quiet street in Paris’s bubbling 18th arrondissement, a truly mind-bending revamp.

In addition to, obviously, lots of cubes, the themes of coolness and transparency, which are emphasised throughout the public spaces are offset by the warming sense of privacy and comfort that pervades the guestrooms. The courtyard of the revamped 19th century building features a see-through cube, which contains the necessary reception facilities in a suitable way.

Sashaying into the stylish bar, which serves as the heart of the hotel, you’ll find yourself transported to a rather futuristic space, complete with generously high ceilings, lots of stainless-steel gratings, floor-to-ceiling curtains and a long counter in tarnished silver to lean against and get your wits back about you. Cubic seats and lounge chairs accented in fur set off the black glass of the walls, which are animated in turn by a whole row of plasma-screen televisions.

Bars play a pivotal role in the hotel’s concept so you’ll find the “Ice Kube” bar on the mezzanine – held at a constant temperature of only minus 5°C, it is a whole universe entirely made out of 25 tons of ice. Once you take off the polar coat provided for the ice bar, you may well feel like heating things up again while swinging in Eero Aarnio’s 1968 ‘Bubble Chairs’ suspended in mid-air.

Oozing a sleek iciness in its public spaces, the 31 guestrooms and 10 suites of the hotel turn the heat up a little with warm touches added to the arctic-geometric theme. Black and white faux-fur curtains give the space a definite cuddly feel whilst readily living up to the chic provided by the pastel-coloured furniture by Raymond Morel in tarnished glass. Spinning the crystalline look further in the bathrooms, Philippe Starck’s aptly named ‘Jelly Cubes’ collection for Duravit of rectangular elements sits squarely with specially made glass cube showers made from matt the high-tech material Corian.

Source : Design Hotels

The concept for The Kirketon Dining Room & Bar in Sydney is based in the great restaurants and bars of Europe and America built in an era of style comfort and quality. Key priority was to encapsulate the style of Paris and the comfort of New York and yet still incorporating the edgy style of contemporary Sydney restaurant design.

Rigorous functional requirements and intense design collaboration with the client, James Ingram, dictated generous egress for wait staff, soft ambient lighting and the maximising of seating capabilities to match licensing. The kitchen also required upgrading to match the newly expanded seating layout as well as providingroom service to the Hotel guests.

The colour palette is restrained and used in a predominantly structural manner to define areas. Cladding finishes – predominantly black stained American Walnut panelling with brass trim, brass cladding treated with a bronze patina and finely sanded stucco plaster finish polished with bees wax define the palette. The ceiling was repainted in Dulux Deep Onyx to recede and take emphasis away from the relatively low ceiling height.…Unfortunately, This restaurant has closed on 12 February 2007

Source : kirketon dining room, your restaurants

The duoMo hotel has long been a fixture in the historic heart of Rimini, one of Italy’s long-standing and established seaside resorts. Untouched for many years until the owners decided to bring celebrated architect Ron Arad and his team into the picture in 2003, resulting in a unique and exciting transformation. The main concept revolved around the need to embrace the past while simultaneously creating space for a thorough look into the future. This need for dynamism, design and creativity resulted in a unique identity in design, where subtle contrasts, light, shadow and transparencies were infused into the existing building, thus giving birth to the new hotel.

The hotel entrance is through giant pin-ball-flipper doors, framing the view to the reception area, which inevitably becomes the focal point of the hotel. The front desk is an oversized circular stainless steel structure, dramatically leaning at an angle, looking like a large inclined wedding ring dancing on a plate. Shelves are built into this ring defining the horizontal topography of the desk. The wall behind the reception is formed by a series of aluminium fin-shapes, allowing natural daylight to flood the space while affording an edited view of the offices located behind it. Although ultra-futuristic in its design, the entrance area exudes a bouncy lightness. The intrepid original features, daring colours and adventurous shapes inevitably make a big impact, setting a distinctive tone for the duration of the guest’s stay.

The much-hyped noMi club is a large island with fjord-like scoops spreading outwards from the main structure to provide guests with surfaces to sit at. The surface of the bar top is made of brushed steel and its sides are finished in mirrored polished steel, creating distorted reflections of the people and the surrounding environment. On balmy summer nights, cleverly retractable glass walls allow for the activity in the bar to be taken outside onto the streets of Rimini’s lively historical centre. World renowned DJs are invited on a regular basis to entertain guests and locals and the Sunday beach parties promoted by the hotel already feature high on the agenda of the in-crowd. Unconventional and exciting design is also present in the private champagne room. It has been set up in an exclusive atmosphere for guests to indulge in after a long day of work or leisure.

Arad’s audacious design philosophy is reflected throughout the rooms as well. Individually formed bathroom pods create the backdrop to the sleeping area. Each pod is a wet room with teak slatted timber flooring and a large circular glazed window, which allows natural light into the space. The exterior of this uniquely designed structure forms the bed head. Arad has played with visual provocations, experimenting with basic spatial perceptions while maintaining the highest level of comfort in the rooms. The careful management of the movement of light and shadow evokes the idea of infinite spaces at the duoMo.

Source : Design Hotel, Interior Design