Designed by Fox Johnston Architects, with interiors by Space Control, The Felix Hotel at Mascot overlooking Sydney’s major airport is designed to turn the ‘short stay’ hotel stereotype on its head, offering a unique and distinctly different hotel experience to today’s ‘digital nomad’ traveller, while evoking the ‘golden era’ of air travel in the 1960s.
The new 150 room hotel generously embraces its location, tips its hat to an Australian’ mid century’ aesthetic and offers its guests a comfortable, relaxing stay coupled with unique perspective on the airport’s working runways.
From the outset, both the architects and the interior designer felt it was crucial to create a striking building, one that would stand out from the other more traditional hotel offerings in the area, and provide a clear sense of identity for The Felix.
Entering at street level, a dramatic double height lobby connects to the central services core - taking the visitor on a journey to the top floor. Framed window openings flank this service core allowing light and ventilation into lobby spaces on every level as well as enabling the visitor to connect with their surroundings.
A carefully articulated rooftop volume or ‘sky lobby’ sits above the building mass modulated to its particular orientation. This sky lobby is designed as a place to congregate / meet / relax and offers expansive views south across Botany Bay and the airport, and north and east to the city. Full height controlled glazing to the south and east provide sun filled pockets throughout the day. A covered outdoor rooftop space to the north - housing the rooftop cinema - allows the building to breathe and offers the visitor an alternate space to retreat.
Hotel suites have been thoughtfully designed to maximise view apertures to the surrounds from each room as well as provide functional well-resolved layouts.
Floor to ceiling glass windows in each guest room, with pointed glass windows in corner rooms, create a sense of connection to the outside, and mean the rooms are unusually light for a hotel while lowering energy consumption, A covered outdoor rooftop space to the north - housing the rooftop cinema - allows the building to breathe and offers the visitor an alternate space to retreat. An adjoining meeting room means guests can fly in and meet at the airport, rather than going into the city.
Building façades were carefully designed, based on passive solar and ventilation principles of building orientation. In particular, heat build up on the west and north and heat loss on the south has been mitigated – in the form of sun shading devices, double glazing and low-E glass.
Careful attention has been paid to detailing in both interior and exterior execution - from signage and seating to floor finishes and woodwork - embracing the hotelier concept of the 1960s era. Raw and robust materials of concrete, timber and stone contain the shell compliment the interior palette of steel, copper and panelling.
Close management of cost parameters & considered design –including use of prefabricated bathroom modules in all guest rooms and the strategic use of glass –allowed us to deliver a unique hotel which meets and exceeds the brief and feels like a boutique hotel, on a relatively compact budget.
