25hours Hotel Dubai One Central raised the bar for hospitality design in Dubai by delivering a memorable and authentic experience for guests. Dubai’s heritage and the traditions of the Bedouin are inherent throughout the interior scheme and serve to root the hotel in its locality. The overall ambiance is relaxed and edgy to reflect the brand’s democratic design spirit. The intent behind the lighting was to create a convivial ambiance for guests, interspersed with wow moments and artistic visual features. Nulty worked in close partnership with the 25hours Hotels team and global architecture studio Woods Bagot to design an immersive illumination scheme that reveals the layers of detail and playfulness that make up each design narrative.
Inside the lobby, light has been carefully integrated to evoke a warm ambiance and prioritise visual focal points. A 26-metre painted ceiling commands the space and depicts constellations and Dubai landmarks. The team washed the ceiling with indirect light from the perimeter to frame the scene and provide a balanced level of ambient light throughout the atrium. Minimalist downlights were then integrated into the design to supplement light levels with minimal impact to the artwork. At the Fountain of Tales – a tiered seating and bookcase area in the centre of the lobby – soft joinery lighting adds intimacy and forms interesting visual effects where the fountain meets a colourful rotating globe.
Across all of the hotel’s 434 guest rooms and suites, layers of light emphasise the rich tapestry of materials and finishes. Surface mounted spotlights and discreet downlights provide a base layer of ambient light, while an eclectic mix of decorative luminaires add depth and character to highlight the design language of each scheme.
In the Monkey Bar, subdued lighting brings a jungle aesthetic to life. Tiny spotlights were incorporated into the architecture to ensure the decorative elements of the scheme draw the eye. Pendants suspended amongst ceiling planters add intensity, while a monkey wall installation behind the bar evokes drama through its illuminated eyes.
Upstairs in the terrace bar, integrated bench lighting in each of the caged seating areas and concealed lighting in planting enhances the theatricality of the experience. The neighbouring rooftop pool was given a cool colour temperature to offset the warmth of the bar.
The lighting design for 25hours Hotel Dubai demonstrates how lighting can be integrated into a hospitality scheme to influence how guests emotionally connect to that space. All of this was achieved because the team were given the freedom to think and design outside the box by the wider architecture and design team. The final result is an immersive and dramatic lighting scheme that brings the hotel’s multifaceted palette of materials, decorative objects and artwork to life.
