It's like a good friend who lives in a cool neighbourhood tossed you his keys," explains Daniel Craig, General Manager of the Opus Hotel in Vancouver Canada's fashionable Yaletown district, a waterfront area of converted warehouses known as 'Vancouver's Soho'. A residential hotel, designed to accommodate long stays as well as weekend breaks, the atmosphere in this small, 96-room boutique hotel is one of laidback luxury. The striking location is just steps from the inner harbour oceanfront surrounded by the Pacific Mountains (an hour and a half from the famous Whistler ski resort) and at the very heart of 'Hollywood North', Canada's West Coast film-making scene. Opened in 2002, the hotel was designed by noted local architects Paul Merrick (with Hancock Bruckner Eng & Wright Architects) and the interiors were done by Architectura + Mitchell Freedland Interior Design. A member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World and proclaimed 'one of Vancouver's coolest hangouts' by design magazine Wallpaper*, the Opus remains the newest and only boutique hotel in this sought after neighbourhood, boasting one of the highest occupancy rates in the city.
Touring the hotel on a sunny afternoon in December, Daniel Craig slides his key card into the door and pushes it aside. "This is Billy's room," he announces as we open the door and step into a deluxe suite with vibrant green walls and minimal decor. "He's a filmmaker and musician from London," Craig continues, as we tour the suite looking at the book on graphic design sitting above the headboard and a selection of trendy electronic CDs next to the stereo. It is easy to imagine a thirtysomething creative relaxing here, with its shoji sliding screen and dark wood entertainment unit bathed in natural light. But we haven't just barged into this man's private room - the hotel has been fitted out to suit five different fictional characters, each with their own custom designed space, colour scheme, furniture and decorations. The small hotel has sixteen different suite plans with five different designs, all with custom furniture and fittings by French-Canadian designers Les Meubles Saint-Damase, and designed around the imagined needs for these ideal guests. The hotel's 'lifestyle concierge' service imagines what personal needs and requirements each of these five fictional guests would like incorporated into their experience of both the hotel and the city. At check in, the hotel issues each 'real' guest a guide suited to which of the five types seems most appropriate, to allow a more personalized approach to the amenities of the hotel.
For example, a guest might most closely match single traveller Billy's interest in the party and alternative scene. LA actress Dede might have different tastes and interests and enjoy a listing of the best spas, designer shopping, and cosmetic surgery clinics. A room with her character in mind features faux fur fabrics, provocative art, a chrome four-poster bed and wrap around balcony. High tech executive Bob and his journalist wife Carol, a fictional couple from San Francisco, enjoy a golden yellow suite leading into a private courtyard and their guided tour of the city includes recommendations of West Coast Native art shops and sushi restaurants. Mike the doctor from New York has a modern and minimal red hued room, with advice for a gay-friendly visit to the city and Susan, the only Canadian character of the five, a fashion analyst from Toronto, gets a sophisticated blue room, dubbed 'the Armani of hotel rooms' and recommendations to visit a nearby wine area a short flight away.
This imaginative way of custom-designing rooms for each type of guest is playful and can be surprisingly accurate in creating a personalised experience for guests. It is a fun way of matching lifestyle to design, personality to interiors. All the bathrooms feature heated floors, generous windows, and deep soak tubs - with the option of arranging for a bath attendant to create a spa experience in your room.
Each of the sixteen room layouts is refreshingly non-standard, with unique and innovative ways of arranging space. One unconventional, but well planned, arrangement has the bathroom set up so that guests must look into this normally private space towards the window overlooking the city, with a sliding door for privacy, and another has it as a separate room entirely visible from the bedroom through a glazed screen.
The 'see and be seen' concept extends to the street level Opus Bar with nothing but a smoky window separating parts of the men's and ladies bathrooms - allowing for a sneaky peak into the other side. Video screens over the hand basins allowing those standing at the mirror surveillance over the bar area.
From a quirky and imaginative approach to integrated guest services and interior design to exemplary hotel service, including complimentary chauffeur driven access to the city and twice daily maid service, the Opus embodies the idea of luxury lifestyle design and boutique chic.
Words by Terri Whitehead
