Urban Brisbane is a refurbishment of the existing Gazebo Hotel constructed in the 1970’s. The brief was to create a new entry sequence and revitalise the public spaces on the ground floor to coincide with the re-branding of the hotel.

The refurbishment involved a series of small transformations to the exterior and interior of the existing hotel. A new entry structure was used to enhance the hotel’s street presence while improving the legibility of vehicular movement and amenity of public spaces facing Wickham Terrace.

The building features a twisted steel entry structure, aluminium fins, translucent roof sheeting and operable sun control provides filtered natural light beneath. After dark, the entry structure seemingly floats above street level, becoming a lantern that glows over the new dining terrace.

Timber batten screens along the side boundaries focus the views towards the South-West while providing a degree of privacy and solar protection for the dining room and lounge. Grey granite tiling on the external dining terrace continues internally, folding up at different locations in the lobby to create granite objects for the reception, business centre and bar. A dropped ceiling over the reception marks the entry point and leads hotel guests towards the existing lifts while defining the lobby lounge area.