By Elizabeth Weinstein
Hospitality speaks to a fantasy – a staged room by a famous designer, a glass of champagne a call away, someone else to take out the trash.
But is a hotel still relevant to the contemporary traveler? With increasing competition from the home share model, premium hospitality is casting off its stodgy reputation and repositioning the hotel as a destination for an authentic, curated experience.
A Los Angeles outpost of the nature-forward, 1 Hotel West Hollywood will soon open its doors on Sunset Boulevard. In the RCH-designed landscape, adjacent Hollywood Hills canyon trails symbolically “flow” through a series of courtyards.
Sunset Level. Overall Illustration Plan.
Locally salvaged-timber planters from Angel City Lumber support massive, mature canopy trees. Collections of dry-lush plants cascade from bespoke ceramic pots; grassland meadows sway as Sunset Strip traffic zooms by. This oasis beckons all travelers – from humans to birds and butterflies. It’s open to hotel guests and all walkers-by – a public/private space connecting anyone with a few moments to linger with a little bit of nature.
Secret Garden. Plan Detail.
Continuing the “nature canyon trail,” drive-in guests encounter a monumental timber planter, shaded with olives and dotted with agaves. Nestled between planted handmade ceramic pots are benches sculpted from salvaged logs. Vessels by local ceramic artist Evan Vieser and Atelier Vierkant dot the entire property.
Interior firm AvroKo then carries the theme into the bohemian lobby, layered with textured birch walls and reclaimed brick – a backdrop to RCH’s interior shady riparian palette.
By infusing nature into the 1 Hotel Hollywood property in various moments across the property a new, yet authentic sense of place provides travelers with a unique and yet quintessentially LA experience.
