Birch Community (Handle.Silk.Comet) was a full renovation of a Grade II* listed building in Hertfordshire, UK, completed in 2020. The 146-bedroom hotel, with its two full-scale restaurants, three bars, bakery, pottery studio, wellness centre, co-working space, lido and a myriad of other public areas was an exercise in resourcefulness and reimagination. This first phase was undertaken while Pauline Dellemotte was a senior interior designer at Red Deer.

In 2021, Atelier Ochre was appointed to design the interior of the Bill Murray Suite on the top floor of the Mansion House. The brief was to create a family friendly suite which could be turned into a social playful space for small gathering while making the guest feeling like at home.

As Lead Interior Designer for the project, we sought to interrogate the traditional expectations placed upon a hotel. A limited budget gave us parameters to think laterally, seeing that which could be restored, that which could be left as existing, and that which could be repurposed and reinterpreted. We moved away from the idea of standardisation and turned towards craft and reuse, as well as the Hotel’s mission of providing a space to rest, relax, work and play.

As a studio, our entire ethos is focussed on modern and sustainable design, underpinned by artistry and craftsmanship, to create sensory and playful spaces. Birch provided an opportunity to realise our passion to work with honest and natural materials. Collaborating with craftspeople such as Emma Louise Payne and Jan Henzel to create bespoke pieces for the space, we sought to push materiality and reuse as a design ethic, as opposed to a budgetary constraint.

The interior of the Bill Murray Suite combines new crafted furniture with reclaimed pieces sourced from various vintage markets.

The result is a dynamic, adventurous hotel that was recently named the Times Hotel of the Year 2020.

Team:
Designers: Atelier Ochre
Photographer: Inna Kostukovsky