Fusion Interiors Group – Interior Design London UK
After being appointed to design the interiors, naming and branding for this project, visionary interior designer Hilary Lancaster and owner of Fusion Interiors Group unveils her first hotel project in Amsterdam.
Named ‘Urban Lodge Hotel’ and located just outside of the city in Sloterdijk it was an office block that has been converted into a 120 room hotel including large public areas spaces with a bar, restaurant and breakfast area.
Designed to target both leisure and business travellers the concept draws on the history of the location. The area used to be farming land and then later it became one of the main railway stations connecting the village to the center of Amsterdam. This connection of the city to the farmland inspired the name Urban Lodge which then led to a design narrative mixing the two ideas.
According to Hilary Lancaster “once the name was agreed on we decided to combine a lodge feel with a subtle industrial feel internally. We didn’t want it to be trendy and date quickly so we designed it with this in mind. The concept is always our main focus because once the soul of the hotel is defined the spirit of the interior can live beyond trends. We were also working to a tight budget so we needed to be very creative with materials.”
Specific elements begin the moment the guests enter the hotel. The concrete floors mixed with reclaimed wood planks diagonally fixed on the ceiling give a dramatic contrast to the exterior. The reception design is clad with black iodised metal panels and the top is tiled with the same white tiles used on the bathroom walls. The lounge seating with a real fireplace is a focal point and designed to be centrally located as the guests enter the building. Bookshelves with a selection of vintage pieces that Hilary found locally bring soul to the space. The blue and white floor tiling and totally blue bar bring in the colour theme inspired by Dutch Delft Pottery that is also running through the stationary design and in the rooms on the special tiles designed by a local artist, as well as in the plates hung as artworks above the beds. Other highlights are the chevron wood columns that frame the lobby space and connect with the wood ceiling over reception and the industrial sea of lights in the restaurant also found in a vintage store.
About Fusion Interiors Group or (FIG) : It is an international interior design and branding company specialising in creating unique identities and narratives for the hospitality, retail and leisure sectors as well as designing for commercial and private residential clients. Their versatility and creativity is what makes them unique, where most design firms specialize in only one sector, FIG infuse any brief with fresh innovation whether it be a vast luxury resort or a tiny coffee shop. Under the lead of Hilary Lancaster FIG have a resource of 50+ designers and technicians globally. They are based in Shoreditch, London with satellite offices in Paris, Barcelona, Dubai and New Delhi and are currently looking to expand into South East Asia.
Hilary Lancaster graduated with a BA in Interior Design in Sydney over 20 years ago and since then has been designing high profile projects across many sectors all over the world. Her career started in Singapore where she worked with DP Architects on the ground-breaking centre for the arts in Asia, The Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay. She established FIG in 2008. Hilary is a very talented and creative designer, with a reputation for bringing inspiring designs to every brief she is given. Rather than go with the latest trends she will find a design direction that is unique to each client. She has a skill for getting ‘under the skin’ of each project and bringing a sense of depth of experience to her spaces. Hilary won a RIBA award for her design of the million pound SKYBAR in The Triangle shopping mall Manchester, and was nominated for a retail design award for her design of the Buy and Collect stores for House of Fraser UK.
