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| finished piece is in iron and mahogany. Rollover to see prototype piece with perforated metal fronts to the drawers. |
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:: Panoramic Views
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The injection of 120 Méridien Hotels into the Starwoods existing line up of hotels will make for interesting opportunities for Starwood management. The brands currently consist of Sheraton, ‘W’, the Luxury Collection, Westin, St. Regis and now Four Points. Four Points is described as “offering all the service you’d expect from a full service hotel for a moderate price”.
The Four Points in Chelsea, New York City is not just the first of a kind for Starwood. The design team has had a clear idea of the identity they wanted to create for this hotel and it has been carried through single-mindedly and on the whole successfully. The theme reflects the location of the hotel in one of the old industrial districts of the city, and the artwork and detailing reflect this.
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Fiery glow from the open sign in the bar was not what summoned the fire brigade (rollover for fire engnes visit) but a fault in the alarm system, that at least got all the guests to that nights' 65th birthday party in the bar....
King size double and double double are the two main room types,each room having individual air conditioner units. (below) the entrance conforms to New York patterns...
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Built on a small and constricted footprint the hotel rises over 22 floors on W 33rd Street in New York City. Set back from the general building line, the paved external area has potential for the bar to spill out onto the sidewalk. Signage and flagpoles together with the typical covered way to the front doors complete the street presence. The lobby space is small but well designed with the industrial theme emerging both in artefacts and images within the space, and in the detailing, using aluminum and chrome. Bar and restaurant spaces complete the ground floor plan, whilst the lower floor contains a small gym and various meeting rooms.
The Restaurant and bar spaces are tiny, and the large bar leaves little room for more than a single row of tables. In Denmark they use candles everywhere because they like to keep the winter gloom at bay – here candles seem to be used because the lighting is inadequate. Yes, it is atmospheric in the evening, but during the day the spaces seem over-cooled to the point where guests were wearing coats at breakfast and over cool in the sense too that they are cool visually. Perhaps this should be expected from a part of the hotel that was still not yet completed (the planned Fusion restaurant not being due to open until a month after the writing of this Review), but dark finishes do not generate much reflected light and low-energy fittings do not throw their glow over the whole space. Brightest light is the red neon ‘Open’ sign which casts a rosy glow like frozen firelight across one end of the bar.
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