Hilton Hotel
the north side of the hotel, along with a new separate,
lower ground floor entrance for group check-in,
whilst a final phase will encompass the ballroom, gym,
meeting rooms and the remaining 264 bedrooms on
the hotel’s south side, together with the
presidential suite.
‘We spent considerable time at the beginning of
the project ensuring that we understood both the
client vision and the existing and potential customer
demographic’ commented Martin Goddard. ‘We knew
the client was keen to express strong links to the city
itself, so whilst the overall concept and positioning is
contemporary classic, with a luxury, layered treatment,
we also sought to incorporate the work of local
artists and makers throughout to ensure we created
a uniquely Budapest feel, integrated with the quality
touchpoints that reassure international customers they
are in safe Hilton hands.’
larger feature panels directly behind each desk, which
were hand-painted in an art nouveau style with a
wisteria illustration by Hungarian specialists Rákosy
Glass in an art nouveau style. The dark timber and gold
metal combination is repeated in a plainer rectangular
configuration for the wall treatment to the right hand
side of the reception hall.
The reception space is lit by a series of large, tripletiered, scallop-edged chandeliers, set into ceiling
troughs. Flooring is in highly-polished white granite,
with a thin frame surround in antiqued black granite,
matching that of the desks, along with a taupe and
fawn rug, bespoke-designed by Goddard Littlefair in
a geometric pattern, located in the seating area to the
front of the space, where the silvered glass wall panels
are to be found again, along with a number of retail
display units. The furniture here is a mix of 3-seater
sofas, armchairs and wing-back chairs, arranged
around incidental tables.
Design Walk-through:
Although the original location of the main entrance
has been maintained, the space-planning of the new
reception area was completely changed. To prevent
bottle-necks, the single monolithic desk which
previously sat directly opposite the entrance has been
replaced by three smaller desks, set over the right of
the space on timber bases, with surrounds in antiqued
black granite and frontispieces in halo-lit dark timber
with a geometric-pattern gold metal inlay, along with
white desk lamps on right-angled brass stands at each
end. The wall behind reception is inlaid with a series
of vertical panels in silvered glass, interspersed with
‘Pretty much every item of furniture the eye can see
beyond the art installations is a bespoke Goddard
Littlefair design’, explained the project’s lead designer
and Goddard Littlefair Associate Kristy Unger. ‘That’s
very much the Goddard Littlefair ethos and ensures
that our interiors schemes not only look unique, but
have that un-placeable quality we believe is a ke y
element of luxury.’
The over-arching colour scheme for the public areas
is made up of a neutral base with layers of gold and
silver plus accent colours for different areas, ranging
from blues and greens to mustards and pale purples,
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whilst the remaining material palette includes granite,
dark timber, walnut and verre eglomisé. The colours
in the reception are slightly more restrained, with
punchier blues and plusher velvets used to distinguish
the lounge area.
To aid circulation, the group check-in has been moved
to the other side of the reception space and is now
located against the left-hand wall. To overcome an
existing floor level change immediately beyond this
area, a series of bulky ramps was removed and has
been replaced by a hoist, which can be used both for
wheelchair access and in order to aid deliveries to
the lobby bar, located directly behind. The lobby bar
features fabric-wrapped walls and a geometric blue
and green patterned carpet, with the bar itself clad in
leather with timber and glass detailing.
The lounge effectively forms a direct continuation
of the reception and is located at the top left of the
open-plan L-shaped entrance area. The stunning,
double-height space features a halo-lit leather screen to
rear, bespoke-made by a London maker, which draws
the eye through and is inset into a timber wall with
gold metal inlay, as in reception. The space is visually
dominated, however, by a striking gold and silver glass
sculpture that hangs from the ceiling and is made
up of dozens of individual glass pieces, designed by
Hungarian artist Sándor Oláh and fabricated by local
glass specialists Belight.
The striking carpet here is again in a bespoke
geometric pattern in grey and white, also designed inhouse by Goddard Littlefair, with stand-out armchairs