The Zetter Restaurant & Rooms
London
Chetwood Associates

Light and water: hidden treasures revealed in a London hotel

© Edmund Sumner

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

The architects' concept for this inner-city hotel literally centers on a five-story semi-elliptical atrium, around which walkways to all of the 49 rooms are situated. The atrium floods the building with natural light, illuminating corridor space on every floor as well as the bar below.

The hotel, a refurbished historic building on a tight site, exploits its location not only to attract visitors but also for environmental purposes. A borehole, drilled directly below the hotel, taps into large water reserves in the chalk strata under London. This supply aids not only in the hotel's heating and gray water system, but is purified and used for both main and bottled drinking water.

On the exterior, newly manufactured windows and shutters match the original ones, and minimal changes to the ground floor allow for an entrance lobby, restaurant and courtyard. Following local planning code, the architects added an extra floor without impacting the existing roofline, and the entire spiral of rooms remains invisible from street level. These spaces, filled with natural light from fully glazed walls and balconies, feature end-grain wooden floors and combined bed, bedside table, wardrobe and drawer unit modules. Bathrooms include high-end fittings, custom molded sinks, and walk-in showers.

Principal Laurie Chetwood says: "The hotel looks to other building types for its inspiration. Hotels need to get away from those in-human rabbit warrens of dimly lit corridors and starkly illuminated bathrooms that make you look like death. "The Zetter takes hotel design to the next level, not by stuffing it with designer furniture, by reassessing the importance of simple things like the use of natural light and spatial awareness."

Formal name of Project:
The Zetter Restaurant & Rooms

Location:
London

Owner:
Urban Hotel Group

Architect:
Chetwood Associates
12-13 Clerkenwell Green,
London, EC1R 0QJ
T 020 7490 2400
F 020 7250 1916