Inside An Architecturally Designed Beachside Hotel

Merging residential spaces and hospitality in an innovative way, Little National Hotel is a sophisticated yet comfortably designed beachside hotel in Newcastle. Architect Bates Smart, interior designer Luchetti Krelle and DOMA Group have come together to craft an inviting place that offers amenity and luxury in equal measure.

Located two and a half hours north of Sydney, in the Honeysuckle precinct in Newcastle, Little National is the latest beautifully designed beachside development by DOMA group. The hotel sits within a foreshore area just one block back from the waterfront.

The brief for the hotel was to create a space that feels like a luxurious home away from home. “Guests should feel very comfortable but also excited that it’s a premium space to be in,” says Rachel Luchetti, principal at Luchetti Krelle. “It’s tapping into, I guess in an aspirational sense, what residential living would be like in a very large penthouse apartment.”

As well as guestrooms, the luxuriously designed beachside hotel features a public bar, a lounge and a library. Entering the building from the street, a lift takes one to the first-level bar area, which is filled with natural light and features a two-storey glazed facade that leads your eye up a beautiful steel white staircase to the mezzanine level. Upstairs is the library, a collegial space with communal tables and intimate workstation areas.

The design approach is thoughtful, pragmatic and refined. “It is classically designed so that it will appeal to a board demographic who like luxury and like to see nice touches in the design and things which don’t speak of the time,” says Jure Domazet, managing director at DOMA Group. “Everything is very carefully thought through to make sure there's a place for everything … but it’s about refinement and efficiency, it's not about filling and cluttering the space,” says Guy Lake, director at Bates Smart and lead designer and project director for Little National.

Given its pristine location by the water, key to the experience of Little National is a constant connection to the outdoors. “The lift lobbies are naturally lit, the corridors are naturally lit at the end, and as you go your room and open the door, the blinds go up, which is a signature of the little national brand,” says Lake. Similarly, the framed king-sized beds in each room sit up against the window so that when one is lying in bed, there is a sense of immersion and connection with the nearby park and harbour.

Part of the success of the beautifully designed beachside hotel is born from a seamless collaboration between the architect, designer and developer. “DOMA group has enjoyed a very strong working relationship with Bates Smart across a number of projects in Canberra and our first Little National in Sydney,” says Domazet. “With Luchetti Krelle, we have had a great experience with restaurants and bars in Canberra and also Little National in Adelaide. We've opened about six venues with them and have always appreciated the design process, where it’s very iterative. They respond very well to operational items and there’s a layer of reality.”

Injecting a sense of luxury and refinement into the heart of Newcastle, Little National redefines the hotel experience by offering a unique and seamless combination of home and leisure.

00:00 - Introduction To The Architecturally Designed Hotel
00:55 - The Little National Hotel Brand
01:38 - Creating Social Spaces
02:27 - Unique Design Features
03:43 - The Collaborative Process

For more from The Local Project:
Instagram –   / thelocalproject  
Website – https://thelocalproject.com.au/
LinkedIn –   / the-local-project-publication  
Print Publication – https://thelocalproject.com.au/public...
Hardcover Book – https://thelocalproject.com.au/book/
The Local Project Marketplace – https://thelocalproject.com.au/market...

For more from The Local Production:
Instagram –   / thelocalproduction_  
Website – https://thelocalproduction.com.au/
LinkedIn –   / thelocalproduction  

To subscribe to The Local Project's tri-annual print publication see here – https://thelocalproject.com.au/subscr...

Photography by Pablo Veiga.
Architecture by Bates Smart.
Interior design by Luchetti Krelle.
Development by DOMA Group.
Filmed and edited by Emble.
Production by The Local Project.
-
Location: Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

The Local Project acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land in Australia. We recognise the importance of Indigenous peoples in the identity of our country and continuing connections to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders, past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous people of these lands.

#Design #Beachside #Hotel