15 on Orange - Cape Town

From the late Nineties onwards, the city’s guesthouses assumed the role of small-scale boutique hotels while the chains remained defiantly stuck in their ways. It is only now with the arrival of 15 on Orange that Cape Town can justifiably claim to have a full-scale design hotel to speak of. Visionary developer Chaim Cohen of the New City Group teamed up with Absa Commercial Property Finance and Protea – Africa’s largest hospitality conglomerate – to create what Cohen calls “a modern design-driven world-class product”.

Occupying a total area of 20,000m2 in a verdant corner of the Gardens district, equidistant from Table Mountain and the Central Business District, the hotel’s original building was constructed by the Dutch Reform Church in 1897. To today’s outside observers evidence of this colonial history is scarce, although certain key elements of the original façade were indeed incorporated into the re-design.

Derick Henstra and Peter Fehrsen, the two Design Principles from dhk Architects, went to great lengths to “limit the revised profile of the extended building envelope and its impact on the view of the mountain from the city centre”, as they put it. Furthermore, ceiling heights and levels were set, meaning the building’s horizontal orientation had to be worked into the masterplan from day one.

Henstra and Fehren’s masterstroke was “the transformation of the space by the imposition of a vast, light-filled atrium”, a vertical axis that acts as a counterpoint to the building’s seven long, rectangular floors. That interplay was fundamental to the entire project, not just for the architects but for local designers Source as well.

Lead designer Jeremy Stewart uses the low 2.4m height of the reception ceiling as a prime example of the structural constraints imposed upon the creative process: “We had to put in a reflective ceiling to create an impression of depth and height in the reception area”.

“We also needed to get to a certain number of keys to make the project work,” he continues, “so we ended up with some of them facing inwards... it all got quite complicated quite quickly to be honest!”
Four of those internally facing Atrium Rooms were eventually given an extra 2m x 4m internal glass-fronted balcony that protrudes out into the main atrium, giving Source a prominent place from which to hang some clear plastic pod chairs and the lobby restaurant below a neat ceiling-like canopy to segment it from the rest of the hall.

Breaking up this cavernous lobby space was clearly a challenge, especially along the mountain-facing edge where diaphanous beaded partitions and subtle variations in FF&E have been deployed to differentiate one adjacent F&B concept from another.
A far more prominent statement is made on the lobby floor just in front of two glass lifts where a centipede-like Songololo Sofa in bespoke metallic faux leather and a Fiela Feather Arc light from local designer Haldane Martin are twinned with brightly coloured rugs showing silhouettes of African wildlife. It’s one of the rare overtly African highlights in a hotel dominated by an otherwise international aesthetic.

Stewart uses naturally-inspired patterns and rich textures as a subtly recurring feature throughout, “but they tend to appear in an abstract, modern, unexpected way”. Cohen’s brief was ‘rectilinear, minimalist and slick’, so it is these deliberate interventions from Source that help soften the overall feel and add a human touch: “It’s still not a very homely place though, it’s too sexy and kitsch for that,” admits Stewart candidly. And the blue and white Murano Bar is as sexy and kitsch as 15 on Orange dares to go. Source worked with local manufacturers Willow Lamp on a two-storey chandelier made up of over 10,000 individual Murano glass links surrounding a 12-seater VIP lounge suspended above the main bar. Blue and pink spotlights add the final fantastical flourish meaning it would perhaps look more at home in a Vegas nightclub, nonetheless the Murano Bar has gone straight in at the top of Cape Town’s otherwise sparse upmarket bar scene. Now all it needs is enough promotional activity to turn it into a genuine standalone destination.
Interiors of the 129 guestrooms in 32 different room types feel somewhat tame after visiting the main bar, their closely patterned carpets, wallpapers and bed throws play it comparatively safe in an array of tonal greys. Highlights of bright red, green and pink peppered in amongst the white Perspex and dark macassar ebony casegoods help add some sense of personality however, as do the unmistakeable mountain views (the city-facing rooms have a far harder job on their hands).  

Bathrooms feature backlit honey onyx vanity stations that double as nightlights and sparkling Marmoran glass-encrusted walls behind the bathtubs, all set against a backdrop of abundant white marble. Up in the top floor wellness space meanwhile, bathtub centrepieces sit framed by a curtain of scintillating pearlescent white beads. It all manages to stay just this side of camp yet there’s no mistaking the ‘film and fashion’ target market here; given the paucity of design-friendly, contemporary hotel options in Cape Town, attracting that kind of guest should be easy; keeping them interested year after year may prove more slightly of a challenge.

Rooms  129 guestrooms
Dining  Lobby Restaurant
Drinking  Murano Bar
Leisure  Spa