JOYCE WANG STUDIO REVEALS FIRST HALF OF THE REDESIGN OF MANDARIN ORIENTAL HYDE PARK

Posted in News, Projects on 10 October, 2017

Joyce Wang Studio has unveiled the first half of the redesign of The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London. The lovingly-restored Knightsbridge facing rooms, reception and lobby areas will be open to the public for the first time since the hotel began its extensive renovation. Joyce Wang’s overall design concept celebrates the early 20th Century golden age of travelling, combining signature silhouettes from this era with Art Deco detailing and botanical textures and colours.

“Working on the redesign of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park has been an incredible and at times, surreal experience. It had been a dream of mine to work on a building of significant heritage in a city I hold very dear. Our design is as much a tribute to the building’s illustrious past as it is a personal vision to embrace the future of the hotel”

Joyce Wang

From floor to ceiling, the interiors pay homage to the property’s iconic park-side location. On arrival, guests are presented with two striking glass chandelier centrepieces in the shape of a flower blossom, representing different stages of an opening flower, bringing a theatrical dose of nature indoors.  A specially commissioned crushed aluminium art piece by Fredrikson Stallard dominates the reception area, reflecting and refracting light. Meanwhile, exquisite blown glass pieces by Sang Min Lee, featuring Chinese pottery from the Ch’ing Dynasty, hang on either side of the newly created lobby lounge. Together, the installations welcome guests, animating the public spaces.

Joyce Wang Studio has developed a complimentary and contrasting material language for the newly designed guestrooms. Furniture pieces appear to float on acrylic legs, adding a feeling of airiness to the rooms and maximising the amount of natural light from the Park. Decorative bedside sconces light up a leather tufted headboard and reflect light from a mirrored artwork, interlaced with fragments of bark. Bathrooms are clad in marble with an undulating stone frieze for added texture.

The rooms are carpeted with overlapping leaf patterns, cracked earth shapes or glimmering reflections on a pond and walls are adorned with textured cork wallpaper, resembling earthy bark. Horsehair is radially mounted over nickel dishes to make up the diffuser of bathroom sconces, creating a light that is warm and uniquely textural. The detail extends even to the ceilings, which are painted in a light gloss finish and geometric pattern that matches the old carriageways through Hyde Park.

“Most of the furniture and lighting pieces in the public areas and guestrooms are custom made. No existing piece of furniture was able to fully depict the unique story we had envisioned for the new renovation”

Joyce Wang

The suites have a slightly grander Art Deco feel to them, with nods to the hotel’s past, paired with symbolic details of its surroundings. Fallen acorns served as inspiration as Wang looked to Hyde Park, recognising the different textures, forms and colours at ground level. The aesthetic of the acorn was inspired by crown jewels used during royal ceremonies hosted by the hotel in the past. When these spaces are viewed at a distance from the park, nature seemingly spills brightly into the rooms.

Hand-painted feathers accentuated by copper leaf on silk wallpaper form a rich backdrop to the suites, which soften in the evening with the warm glow of ribbed glass detailing on bedside tables, wardrobes and minibar units. A jewel-like vitrine in each suite also displays an intriguing objet d’art, which nods to the Mandarin Oriental group’s early pioneering ties to the Orient.

“I am a very positive person and believe interior design should be about celebration. My team and I immersed ourselves in learning about the intricacies of what makes the building unique.  From guest behaviour to its Knightsbridge location, from its connection to Royalty to the details of wildlife and nature in the surrounding park- we felt enriched from every perspective”

Joyce Wang

In the second and final phase of the renovation, due to complete in Summer 2018, two new luxurious penthouse suites will be unveiled, with private terraces and extensive park views,  alongside the remaining Hyde Park facing rooms and suites.

Already a familiar name for Mandarin Oriental, Joyce Wang recently oversaw the renovation of the suites at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong. Continuing her successful collaboration with the brand, the studio is currently overseeing the design of the upcoming Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, scheduled for completion by the end of 2018. Most recently, the studio has also been appointed to renovate the Zaha Hadid-designed Mandarin Oriental Melbourne.