From concept to completion – Squire & Partners on the cogwheel inspired art’otel London Hoxton

The recently completed art’otel London Hoxton, is one of a collection of contemporary lifestyle hotels in Europe by PPHE Hotel Group which fuses architectural style with art-inspired interiors. The 26-storey cylindrical form, which occupies a prominent corner within the South Shoreditch Conservation Area where Old Street meets Great Eastern Street, comprises 357 guest rooms including 48 luxury suites, with city views maximised in all directions.

Image credit: Jack Hobhouse

The tower also comprises a public art gallery with ever-changing exhibitions, a 60-seat screening room, spa and pool on the lower ground floor; The Brush Grand Café, lounge and cocktail bar at ground and first floor; and five floors of co-workspace above. Crowning the hotel are three levels of shared spaces including flexible event space, a destination restaurant and a skyline gym.

Image credit: Jack Hobhouse

“Having worked on this project since 2008, after many years and several design iterations, I am excited to see our ideas for this prominent site developed into an important part of Shoreditch’s urban fabric,” said Murray Levinson, Partner, Squire & Partners. “The cylindrical form with its twisted metal columns makes a subtle nod to the development of the computer – without which Silicon Roundabout would not have its name. art‘otel London Hoxton forms part of our growing collection of hotel projects around the world and is another example of our approach to designing buildings that relate to context”.

Image credit: Jack Hobhouse

art’otel London Hoxton’s design responds to the distinct context of its location, referencing Old Street’s regeneration and association with technology – being home to a prominent cluster of high-tech companies in the early 2000s. The cylindrical architectural form and external detail makes a subtle nod to nearby Silicon Roundabout’s history in the development of the computer, referencing the cogs and other mechanical components that the very first analogue computers were built with.

The tower’s façade takes the form of an extruded cogwheel, divided into bands by horizontal aluminium shelves. Each band features bespoke twisted black aluminium fins that span their height, positioned in a syncopated rhythm around the tower. Each of the building’s double-height floorplates is offset to create the illusion of a series of moving components.

As the uses inside the building change rising up the floors, the arrangement of the external twisted fins has been carefully adapted to create both solar shading and the appropriate level of privacy – with denser spacing on levels that house guest rooms whilst preserving city views, and fewer fins across the top floor entertaining spaces, accompanied by external terraces, to create more continuous panoramas.

At street level, the fins are the grandest in proportion, creating a sense of arrival for guests. Two mixed-use blocks flank the tower to form the hotel entrance and feature large-scale Banksy artworks on public display, conserved from the original site and incorporated into the design.

Image credit: Jack Hobhouse

“art’otel London Hoxton is a one-of-a-kind hotel experience, fusing art, design and hospitality to add to London’s ever-evolving, popular Hoxton and Shoreditch neighbourhoods,” commented PPHE Hotel Group. “Squire & Partners’ design stands out as a modern day icon and we are proud to have brought this game-changing new art-inspired hotel to life together”.

Internally, in collaboration with interior designer Digital Space, signature artist D*Face has led the concept and design of all guest and public spaces, including a 196 square-metre D*Face Masterpiece Suite. The contemporary urban artist, who has returned to the location of his first artworks in the East End, has created works that include original large-scale sculptures, murals and bespoke details throughout the building.

Main image credit: Jack Hobhouse