NHow, is the first of this innovative quirky hotel brand. The main guests are young professionals with an independent and inquisitive nature, but it is also welcoming to tourists.
NHow brand style is eclectic, loud and vibrant. It is quite unique and each hotel is individual, in that it reflects the local area – in this case the junction of Old Street, the Silicon Valley of London, and Shoreditch where Londoners come out to play. There are many reference to technology, video games and vintage items in the Interior design.
NHow’s public areas are very open spaces, which welcome guests from early day into late hours. With it, the spaces transforms and adapt to host various events. During the day you will find young entrepreneurs from start-ups working in the lounge or common workspace area, on laptops or holding meetings in the informal and easy going ambience. At the same time, city tourists prepare to explore all that London has to offer. By contrast, during the evening locals will join guests for drinks after work, live music and a great cocktail bar, as what was once in the day a working space, becomes a party zone. In the morning, order is restored and breakfast is served.
Lighting concept is four-fold:
Lighting is designed to be flexible, to adapt from the extremes of Business use to live music over the day. Intensity, uniformity, colour sift, lux levels all vary.
Lighting is anchored in the location – for example the internally illuminated kitsch statue of Big ben in the lobby could only be in London.
But in the same way, lighting is so discreet that takes the background in all scenes, a silent actor that allows the furnishing and artwork to shine in their own right.
But whatever it is doing, the lighting creates a dramatic effect. As with stage lighting, the principle is to create areas which are brighter and call for people’s attention, or are softer and in the background (including a few darker areas to create cosy quiet nooks, for those who need a little breather or some privacy).
Lighting is often hidden for example integrated into joinery to create soft ambience light; juxtaposed with this is it can also be highly decorative such as the avenue of pendants guiding guests to the lift lobby.
We use accenting to highlight specific areas, making a big distinction from circulation areas to permanence areas.
We avoided homogeneity, as we wanted to enhance the feeling of discovery, to allow guests an autodidactic journey into what is truly a living, unique space. Elektra has done 150 hotels before; we’ve never done one quite like this.
