New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/02C | Page 93

These pages: Aedas Interiors
executive director Greg Farrell
spends 150-200 nights a year in
a hotel room – an experience he
draws on when designing hotels
such as M Social on Auckland’s
waterfront. M Social illustrates a
key factor in his design approach
– creating a sense of place.
quirky that would entice guests to stay there.
Looking at the competition that’s already in the
market when you come into a city helps determine
how an owner may position a new property. And
that may align you with a particular operator, which
then may align you with a particular architect or
designer as well.
Lifestyle brands
M Social is a new lifestyle brand that is part of
Millennium Copthorne’s stable of hotel operations.
Chairman Kwek Leng Beng wanted to create a new
lifestyle brand targeting global nomads – millennials
and people with a different mindset looking to be
more socially engaged when they travel.
This particular property was a refurbishment of a
building that had been through many lives. For this
emerging brand, it’s in a fantastic location, right on
the edge of the wonderful vibrancy of Auckland’s
Viaduct area.
In international terms, I’d consider M Social is a
low end five star. But these days people are using
different terms – they’re talking about lifestyle,
they’re talking about mid-scale/upscale/luxury.
M Social is very much about lifestyle, about
creating something that’s a little bit different. It’s
light, it’s vibrant, it’s engaging – that was the core
fundamental behind the brand.
Room planning
As interior designers we think about the real
human scale of hotels, and about how people inter-
act ergonomically within the rooms. We think about
how to create a sense of space within the room,
especially in a small room.
I often ask the question when we start a new
project, how many ways can you try and redesign
the box, which is fundamentally what you’ve got?
At this end of the market, creating a sense of
space is hugely important. Which is why we look at
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