NH Group to Open London Hotel

Nhow London, a 190-room hotel under NH Hotel Group’s design and lifestyle brand, is set to open in London in summer 2019.

Located between the City, Islington and Shoreditch, within the ‘250 City Road’ development designed by Sir Norman Foster’s acclaimed architectural firm Foster + Partners, the four-star hotel will be NH Hotel Group’s second property in the UK. Under the theme ‘London Reloaded’, the design will combine traditional British icons with unconventional contemporary elements.

Traditional icons meet street art

Architect James Soane, co-director of the London-based Project Orange interiors studio, and his team are responsible for the interior design of nhow London. The eight-storey hotel will feature 190 rooms, a restaurant, bar, gym, networking spaces and several meeting rooms.

A ‘Big Ben’ rocket sculpture will be one of the lobby’s most striking elements. Eclectic ensembles of colourful furniture on ‘pixelated’ carpets will invite guests to unwind, while an installation made from wooden boards around an LED fireplace creates a relaxing atmosphere.

The restaurant – The Bell – will be an avant-garde version of a traditional British pub, with green leather seating coiling through the room and tables featuring cockney rhyming slang. Huge gold bell lights, a reminder of the city’s famous church bells, will softly light the space. In contrast, the central pillar will feature a pixelated LED grid generating ever-changing moving images.

Maarten Markus, Managing Director Northern Europe of NH Hotel Group, is delighted with this forthcoming addition to the portfolio in the popular UK market: “As a vibrant, international metropolis, London is the perfect location for a nhow hotel. Cosmopolitan cities are inherently dynamic, ceaselessly producing new cultural, social and artistic trends. Our nhow hotels are an expression and measure of this dynamic. nhow London will reflect both the industrial past and technological future of its location and will become a creative hub for the neighbourhood.”

Expect the unexpected

In keeping with the other hotels under the nhow brand, guests will enjoy surprising and unconventional details and services. Architect James Soane from Project Orange explains: “nhow London will have a unique interior concept, perfectly tailored to its location. Visitors will find themselves immersed in a world of art and design that tells a story and engages the senses; a dynamic melting pot created to surprise and inspire the guests.”

Colourful textures will confront contemporary art in the rooms, creating an unforgettable version of London. Punk will meet high tech style, while graffiti will appear alongside unconventional images of past monarchs.

Expansion of the nhow design and lifestyle brand

Nhow is NH Hotel Group’s urban design and lifestyle brand. Every nhow hotel has its own unique character, inspired by the city in which it stands. NH Hotel Group is breaking new ground with its nhow hotels, combining the contemporary architecture and designs of renowned trendsetters such as Matteo Thun (nhow Milano), Rem Koolhaas (nhow Rotterdam / nhow Amsterdam RAI), Karim Rashid (nhow Berlin) and Teresa Sapey (nhow Marseille) with urban trends. nhow hotels shape their surroundings with their striking designs, becoming hotspots and destinations for travellers and locals alike.

In devising the design concept for each nhow hotel, NH Hotel Group works with Enrique Tellechea, founder of the branding consultancy The Null, who is working top-down on the brand’s construction. Nothing at a nhow hotel is preordained. Everything is unexpected, iconic, inspirational and surprising, from the lobby to the rooms, the restaurants, the corridors, the meeting rooms and the creative spaces. The nhow experience is unique for each guest but has the ‘wow’ factor in common. Located in key urban areas undergoing a transformation, nhow hotels quickly become landmarks for self-discovery, experimentation and creativity.