Located in London’s Royal Docks in an area targeted for regeneration, the Aloft London Excel hotel is the first of Starwood’s Aloft brand to be built in the UK. As architects and interior designers, Jestico + Whiles were given a clear brief: design the best hotel on ExCeL’s campus, create a gateway to the International Conference Centre, avoid any impact on the operation of the exhibition centre and achieve an Excellent BREEAM rating. Approximately 250 guestrooms were required including 12 suites, along with a bar, restaurant, lounge, snack bar, gym, pool, sauna, steam room, business centre and meeting rooms.
The plan of the building has a convex central spine containing bedrooms and the vertical circulation, flanked by two concave wings which house further bedrooms and corridors. These wings are clad in thousands of specially treated, highly reflective stainless-steel shingles creating the extraordinary effect of constantly changing colour with the passing of the day. The central spine of the hotel has been finished with a bespoke, double-glazed cladding, which features a translucent ceramic frit pattern and solid back-painted spandrel panels. Inspired by the illusion of depth seen in some of Victor Vasarely’s paintings, abstract horizontal stripes fritted onto the glass have been designed to emphasise the flow of the building. This creates an unusual interplay of movement and depth when combined with the undulating colours of the crescent wings. Cladding employed prefabricated unitised construction and meets stringent thermal and acoustic performance criteria including U-Values of 0.15W/m2K and noise insulation of Rw40dB through windows. The structural frame was constructed in reinforced concrete.
In order to create a coherent guest experience, the treatment of the internal spaces continues the linear motifs used externally. For example, bespoke wallpaper in the corridors employs the same pattern as the screen printed facades. Linear porcelain wall and floor tiling was specified in public areas and this was inlaid with LED strip lighting in the pool. In order to meet the client’s high standards, natural teak and wild oak veneers were used in guestrooms and public areas in lieu of the brand standard laminate. A sumptuous ‘Bordeaux’ fabric interlayer was introduced into the glazed screens in the gym and meeting rooms and this colour accent was continued into the other public areas.
Jestico + Whiles won the commission for architecture and interiors in a design competition held in October 2008, planning permission was granted in November 2008, site works commenced in May 2010 and practical completion was achieved in October 2011.