Eyes in Design - Creators Jestico & Whiles and the Award Winning W Hotel in London at Leicester Square
Jestico + Whiles’ W London – Leicester Square wins ‘Special tribute to UK Country of Honour’ at MIPIM awards.
Designed by awardwinning architects Jestico + Whiles, the glamorous W London –
Leicester Square has won the ‘Special tribute to UK Country of Honour’ at the
International MIPIM awards in Cannes.
Developed by McAleer & Rushe, the new 192 bedroom luxury Starwood hotel is
located in Leicester Square, the epicentre of the city’s entertainment district,
providing international travellers in London with an exciting new destination venue.
In addition to the hotel, the new ten storey building houses retail, leisure and
residential accommodation spread over 200,000 sq ft, including a spa, 11 penthouse
apartments and a new 35,000 sq ft retail leisure experience provided by a leading
global brand.
The redevelopment of the former Swiss Centre site has restored key strategic views
across the city that have been hidden for years until now, providing visitors with
outlooks over the capital that stretch all the way from Parliament Hill in North West
London to the Houses of Parliament.
Jestico + Whiles’ design allows for the façade of the building to function like a vast
pixellated screen – the first of its kind in the UK – capable of projecting dynamic light
installations in an exciting new collaboration between contemporary architecture
and art.
This striking visual effect is achieved by a sophisticated ceramic frit applied to the
optically corrected glass of building’s outer skin, allowing it to ‘hold’ and project the
light, without obstructing views outwards from the guestroom windows. The façade
of the hotel has been wrapped in a second skin of frameless glazing, which is
suspended from the face of the building like a floating sheer veil and etched with an
undulating, abstract pattern, reminiscent of the folds in a theatre curtain and
evoking the cinematic legacy of the locale.
The opening commission has been designed by wellknown London based electronic
artist Jason Bruges, who has prepared a conceptual interpretation of the changing
light dynamics in Leicester Square across the preceding 24hours. The installation
works by translating video footage captured by hidden cameras mounted on the
roofspace of the building, which is converted using time lapse photography into
short performances and streamed at regular intervals onto the veil during the hours
of darkness.
Light fittings set into the outer main wall are loaded with hundreds of energy efficient
Barco lights, which afford movie quality colour mixing and rendering to
provide an infinite number of combinations and effects. The light intensity and
colour saturation of the veil are controlled by a sophisticated interface from within
the hotel, allowing the presence of the building to alter as day turns to night. During
the day, W London is calm, cool and restrained – whilst by night, the glass veil
becomes an animation of glowing light and possibly the biggest electronic artwork in
London.
The concept behind this panoramic vision of London harks back to the artistic
heritage of Leicester Square, recalling James Wyld’s celebrated ‘Great Globe’ that
was situated in the square between 1851 and 1862. Whilst Wyld’s hollow globe
allowed visitors inside to view an internalised image of the earth on its interior
surface, W London displays an external portrayal of the changing urban vista, in a
dazzling light rendition of contemporary life.
Internally, Jestico + Whiles’ design responds innovatively to the constrictions of the
site by ‘pulling back’ certain blocks of rooms into the building envelope on each
floor. This allows for the creation of dramatic double and triple height atria within
the building, enhancing the sense of space and theatre throughout the entire hotel.
To maximise activity at street level, the lower floors of the building are occupied by
shops, bars and restaurants, whilst the hotel entrance has been carefully located off
Wardour Street to offer guests a personal and exclusive access route into the hotel.
Once inside, visitors are led through the first floor reception atrium into Wyld, the
stylish destination bar overlooking Leicester Square, providing an ideal location or
back drop for film premiere interviews.
As leading designers in the hotel industry, Jestico + Whiles has completed 28 hotel
schemes worldwide, working in a variety of countries including the UK, Czech
Republic, Croatia, Germany, Russia and Abu Dhabi. The practice is currently working
with McAleer & Rushe on Starwood’s new Aloft London ExCeL at the ExCeL
exhibition centre which will open in advance of the Olympics in 2012.
Jestico + Whiles
Jestico + Whiles is an awardwinning architectural and interior design practice with
offices in London and Prague. The practice has grown steadily since the formation of
the partnership by Tom Jestico and John Whiles in 1977. In recent years the practice
has undergone particularly rapid growth, building on its reputation for design quality
and innovative solutions to challenging briefs, whilst diversifying into a range of
different sectors.
The practice incorporates a specialist studio of experienced hotel designers including
architects, interior designers and FFE specifiers. The team has earned a global
reputation for excellence in this field, supported by a large number of international
awards.
Jestico + Whiles has recently designed on three other major new hotels worldwide,
which have opened to universal praise, including Andels Lodz, the recipient of the
European Hotel Design Award 2009, Andels Berlin and the new “ultraluxe” Yas Hotel
on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi which spans the new Formula One Grand Prix race track.
For further information, please visit www.jesticowhiles.com
McAleer & Rushe
The McAleer & Rushe Group is a privately owned and award winning property
development, investment and construction firm. The principle focus of the Company
is high density city centre schemes where they are market leaders in the design and
construction of hotel, office and apartment buildings. Over the last 15 years the
Company has completed in excess of 10,000 bedrooms on 40 different hotel projects
and 1.25m sq ft offices, during which they have built an enviable reputation for
delivering high quality buildings on time and within budget.
For further information, please visit www.mcaleerrushe.co.uk
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure
companies in the world with 1025 properties in 100 countries and territories with
145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully
integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the
following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®,
Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently
launched Aloft®, and Element SM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation
Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality
vacation interval ownership resorts.
