Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff, Wales Building, Welsh Project, Photo, News, Design, Pictures
Sleeperz Cardiff, Wales
Welsh Hotel Accommodation – design by Clash Associates, architects
27 May 2010
Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff
Design: Clash Associates Ltd, Architects
Station Approach, Saunders Road, Cardiff CF10 1RH
Contact Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff: 029 2047 8747
RIBA Awards 2010 – Wales : winner
Sleeperz is a new hotel chain developing compact lifestyle hotels in partnership with Network Rail on sites throughout the UK. Sleeperz’ objective is to distinguish itself from the competition by utilising smaller stylish rooms on awkward and irregular shaped sites right next to mainline railway termini, producing design differentiated budget accommodation which is particular to each site, and attuned to city centre locations.
photo : Daniel Clements
The project for Sleeperz Cardiff included the requirement to develop the detailed brief for the first in a chain of new station hotels and to anticipate how this would inform the design of the next 15 to 20 , to be designed on different sites throughout the UK. The project brief was confirmed as a mixture of elements common to all hotels, with plans which could be adapted to the contingencies of awkward sites, and diverse architecture which addressed the differing contexts of cities such as Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff occupies a prominent triangular site within the St. Mary Street Conservation Area between listed buildings on Penarth and Saunders Road, close to the operational railway, station taxi rank and busy urban road junction, and shares a frontage with the main Cardiff Central Railway Station.
photo : Daniel Clements
The upper four floors of the 74 bedroom hotel are clad in Jura limestone with black mosaic to the lower two floors. The scale, finish and colour of the stone panels vary according to orientation, with honed horizontal panels changing to vertical at the bullnose curve of the building, with a striated finish. Windows are full height, connecting the compact rooms with the city beyond, grouped along the north façade in response to the variation in bedroom layouts, and organised in vertical slots to the south, creating tall stone towers. A large urban oriel window faces the junction towards the east, with a full height backlit steel sign aligned along one edge, facing towards the station.
photo : Daniel Clements
The design of the bedrooms and the fitted furniture are influenced by the character of vintage ships cabins and railway couchettes – compact with a mix of luxury, spatial economy and special details such as the object wall, incorporating hanging space, storage, suitcase rack, key/change keep and laptop desk, and the bathroom and bedside furniture. Public areas are contrastingly spacious, with a wood burning stove, dark brown leather sofas and oak flooring creating the welcoming atmosphere of an inn.
The hotel fits tightly into the urban scene and the railway environment,with a hard landscaped courtyard created to the south, between the hotel and the viaduct of the operational railway.
photo : Daniel Clements
The design for Sleeperz Cardiff was developed in close cooperation with Cardiff City Planners, who suggested that the use of stone façades would work well with the quality and tonality of the station buildings, and encouraged an urban solution which worked with the Square, the Station and the City.
Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff images / information from Clash Associates
Location: Station Approach, Saunders Road, Cardiff CF10 1RH, Wales
Welsh Architecture – Selection
National Assembly for Wales
Richard Rogers Partnership
National Assembly for Wales
Ty Hedfan, Brecon, south Wales
Featherstone Young
Brecon home
Website: Wales
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Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff Building