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DEPARTMENTS DESIGN
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BELGIUM’S
ATMOSPHERIST
SANDRINE ALOUF |
by HEATHER STIMMLER-HALL
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Whether it’s an oil painting, a landscape print, or a black and white photograph, artworks in hotels have traditionally been presented in the same way: in a frame hung on the wall. But the Franco-Belgian "atmospherist" Sandrine Alouf is setting a new scene. "I call myself an atmospherist because there was no name for what I do. I’m not just a photographer, nor am I just an interior designer. I tell stories."
Alouf gained fame in 2006 when her life-sized photos of clouds were chosen to cover the walls of a Parisian train station for a year. This led to a collaboration with hotelier Philippe Vaurs for the concept of The One by The Five, a single-suite hotel that evokes a romantic rendezvous. Alouf’s photographs of clouds, roses, and Greek statues from the Louvre were screened onto satin walls, plush carpeting, and suspended ceilings. With a thick stack of press clippings and 75% occupancy at full rate, her efforts clearly paid off and offers for new hotel projects quickly followed.
"Sometimes the owner already has an idea of what they want, and sometimes I come up with an idea after visiting the location," says Alouf. "When I visited the Sublim Eiffel Hotel, I could see the Eiffel Tower close up and the elevated metro running back and forth from every window, like the city was coming into the hotel!" So she brought the city inside, transforming its aggressive nature into a welcoming cocoon of cobblestone carpeting and headboards upholstered with images of traffic headlights.
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The Apostrophe Hôtel in Montparnasse commissioned Alouf to combine the themes of writing (a nod to the neighborhood’s literary roots) and raw materials. She took photos of calligraphy writing, musical scores, graffiti tags, open pages of books, typewriter keys, and printing press letters, and used them to create a unique theme for each room. Just like in the Sublim Eiffel, Alouf felt that generic carpeting and curtains wouldn’t work with the images, so she designed her own. "Digital technology allows us to do things with the photos that we couldn’t do before," she says. "You can make them any size, screen them onto any material." This design unity and creativity also help direct guests’ attention away from the small size of the rooms.
Other hotels throughout Europe have been experimenting with the use of oversize photography as part of their design. Sometimes it’s no more elaborate than an attractive image covering an entire wall or used instead of a traditional headboard behind a bed, such as the Kruisheren Hotel in Maastricht, by Dutch designer Henk Vos, or the Oscar Hotel in the Room Mate chain of boutique hotels in Spain. "I think it’s a very interesting trend," says Eric Mezan of Art Travel Desk in Paris. "It’s a gamble whether it will add value over time (particularly if it’s an up-and-coming photographer who makes it big) or look dated like old wallpaper, but this is always a risk when doing something daring in design. I can understand why some hotels wouldn’t want to take that risk."
The Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland banked on the star power of French architect Jean Nouvel, who covered the ceilings of each room with famous film scenes of couples. "He was inspired by the ceiling paintings of the Romans and Greeks," says owner Urs Langenegger. "Instead of mystic scenes and gods he thought that erotic movie scenes would give each room the special touch - and it does! They take over the room. As a guest you are part of the scene - especially when you are in bed, with the picture above you."
The goal for all of these hotels is to stand out amidst an increasingly homogenous world. "We travel so much these days and have so much information to retain that it’s hard for hotels to create a truly memorably experience," says Alouf. And a unique design isn’t all that’s necessary, as urban travelers still demand high quality. "For us the high quality of architecture and materials was also always very important," says Langenegger. |
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