Interior design firm Bilkey Llinas Design (BLD) have completed the interior design and fit-out of the Westin Nanjing, China. This property has become the premier address in the city and is the latest in an increasing 30-year portfolio for this award winning design team in China.The designers worked extremely closely with the operator Starwood who wanted a clean, fresh palette for its Westin brand. “The approach to the design was almost spa-like placing importance on the selections of natural finishes and generally creating a light and airy feeling about the whole place,” says Christopher Bennett, Senior Project Designer at BLD.
The architecture of the building was a test to overcome as the geometry of the floor spaces and encroaching internal structural elements made designing the 234 guestrooms and suites especially challenging with most of the rooms differing in shape and size. Having to incorporate Westin’s trademark Heavenly Bed and Bath also added to the complexity of fitting out the rooms.
In the case of the lobby, keeping a light and airy ambience was quite challenging because there were no windows at that end of the building. The lobby is on the 23rd floor with two distinct areas, the reception and the all-day-dining restaurant, Seasonal Tastes. Guests arrive by the elevator from the ground floor drop off and meeting reception at the lobby end and can walk through the lobby and through into the all-day-dining restaurant where the windows are situated on the far side.
The lack of natural light for the lobby was compensated by the effective and decorative use of lighting as well as the choice of material selection including light travertine marble to bring out the lightness and then using darker tones and spot lighting to draw attention to certain features such as the reception and the decorative elements behind the reception desk.
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