W Hotel, the hip and swanky branch of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, has teamed up with San Francisco-based architect Stanley Saitowitz (of Natoma Architects) to redesign the first two floors of W San Francisco. Steering clear of cookie-cutter motifs, a.k.a. the Golden Gate Bridge, Saitowitz offers a fresh take on localized decor. Pointing to his inspiration, the architect invokes a line by 19th century San Francisco writer Ambrose Bierce: “This city is a point upon a map of fog”.
“The fog is kind of the other San Francisco, the mysterious Alfred Hitchcock city that’s been sort of made out in literature rather than the cable car postcards,” Saitowitz explains in an interview with ARTINFO, “At the same time the W wants to be unique to the city, they have to maintain their brand standards. The clientele of the W are not, you know, from the Midwest”.
While the project is set for completion in November, here’s a first look at some of the designs.
The space is bathed in a myriad of dark grays and purples. A nod to Bierce’s ‘fog’, the dark color scheme gets paler and ‘cloudier’ as one ascends the hotel.
The play on ‘map’ is subtle and clever. Urban-inspired grid patterns abound on the floors and walls, while city monuments are faintly imprinted on the walls.
Source: Luxury Insider
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