Mid-century meets modern at Turing Locke, the new apartment hotel at Eddington, opening in October. We take a look around
Words by Nicola Foley
How do you make a small space feel like home? “The three Ps,” says AvroKO’s Adam Farmerie: “Plants, pillows and a place to throw your keys. Soften the edges and keep it simple!”
You can see this philosophy in action at Turing Locke, the new AvroKO-designed apartment hotel at Eddington. In creating a look for the 180 apartments, the design studio opted for a palette of pastel pink and muted greens, sleek Scandi-style furniture, mid-century modern touches, and lots of art and eclectic accessories – coming together to offer a stylish home from home for visitors to the city.
Bedrooms are compact, less of a focal point
Designing for a Locke aparthotel has been different to designing for typical hotel interiors says Adam, primarily because guests have different needs – both physically and psychologically. “When designing for Locke, you’re designing for a guest that is likely staying for a longer period of time than in a traditional hotel, so you think differently about how to foster happiness in that guest,” he explains. “Part of it comes from ensuring that we design in a layered public space ecosystem, but also thinking about this hotel more as a home and less as a transitional space, which is often the case when designing for traditional hotels.”
One key element was to consider the space incredibly carefully, thinking about how people will actually use it, rather than what convention dictates.
Bedrooms, for example, are compact, less of a focal point – by design. “Most hotel rooms focus on the bed, and yet it’s often the physical space you spend the least amount of conscious time in,” says Adam. “For Turing Locke, we reduced the size of the bedroom so as to only fit a comfortable queen-size bed and small, minimalist bedside tables, allowing us to achieve two significant goals. First, we drastically increased the size of the living area, where the next generation of guest will spend the majority of their waking hours. Second, studies have shown that smaller spaces are more conducive to higher quality sleep. Downsizing the bedroom doesn’t necessarily trivialise it – it’s a beautiful space and still more than enough.”
As with every new project the company takes on, AvroKO identified three key pillars that form an overall design direction, or ‘north star’ that guides the project. In this case, the concepts were modernist shapes, reflected in the lines and architecture of the building; post-war change, most evident in Turing Locke’s mid-century furniture, fixtures and lighting; and avant-garde rebellion, which is shown in the art collection and accessories throughout the project. Throw in some gorgeous finishing touches – like the terrazzo countertops and mint-green velvet sofa – and the result is a space that blends traditional and modern with aplomb; fresh and stylish, but also immediately welcoming and homely.
