947Rooms - Venice

“The concept is industrial-meets-baroque glamour,” says London-based designer Matteo Bianchi of his homecoming gig to transform one of the oldest buildings in Venice into a boutique hotel.

Located above a club, bar, and restaurant of the same name, 947Rooms is the vision of owner Max Costa in a bid to create a design-led hotel that is ‘sexy, playful, elegant, cosy, chic, and magical’. The project is an exension of the trattoria below, also owned by the same family who claim to have brought pizza to Venice in 1947 – hence the hotel’s name.

With Costa’s brief in mind, Bianchi, founder of Daruma Design, teamed up with Simon Hamilton Interior Design. The pair engaged in much research into what was already on offer in the city, and in London, to create something that is sophisticated yet functional.

The sympathetic refurbishment involved taking cues from the existing building and incorporating them into the new design. Speaking about the project during London Design Festival, Simon Hamilton explained: “We took elements of what was in the restaurant and bar area, interpreting it in a more modern way.”

Terrazzo flooring and original beams, for example, feature prominently throughout, as does exposed brickwork and polished resin flooring. These are juxtaposed against 21st century facilities. Rich velvet upholstery and a colour palette of scarlet and black runs throughout with a heavily baroque theme.

“The hotel’s four guestrooms are full of contrasts,” says Bianchi as he describes the luxurious fluffy rugs, velvet headboard with button detailing, and flatscreen TV hidden behind a baroque-framed mirror. “Each room has one vibrant signature colour set against the background of rich greys and blacks,” he adds, suggesting that the guest should ‘play’ to discover the surprise details of colour: pink, electric blue or crisp white.

Guestrooms are deliberately large in comparison to typical Venetian standards. Sleeper stayed in the Junior Suite which features a masculine colour palette of browns and greys with lime green accents in the upholstery. Mood lighting is provided by feather-trim bedside lamps, and Porta Romana’s duck legs perched over a nest of Kinder eggs. Each of the guestrooms feature bespoke artwork commissioned specially for the hotel, with other furnishings sourced both locally and internationally. The designers have retained some pieces of furniture from the previous hotel, revitalising them with new upholstery in complementary colours.

The spacious bathroom and dressing area features a padded wardrobe behind coloured voiles, whilst the antique chimney has been transformed into a leather-clad make-up corner complete with mirrors. Bathroom furniture comes from Jaime Hayon’s ArtQuitect collection in black gloss alongside chromatherapy showers.

Further design features include the use of a hidden light source to illuminate the painted out ceiling beams, and room numbers set into the resin floor rather than on the doors.

Bianchi concludes: “With 947Rooms we wanted to create a playful yet elegant atmosphere where the customers will be curious to look around and discover a design detail in every corner.”

The 400m2 hotel, known collectively as the ‘Super Suite’, is available for private hire with the use of the restaurant and club.

947Rooms
Castello 4356, Venice, Italy
Tel: +39 041 779 4649
Web: www.947club.com

Rooms 4 guestrooms
Drinking 947ClubHouse
Facilites Super Suite (entire hotel) available for hire