Walsall Hotel / 100 room hotel

The Walsall Hotel is located Walsall city centre, in the West Midlands, UK, and is the first part of a large redevelopment plan with Walsall’s New Art Gallery residing nearby. The hotel, consisting of 100 rooms, a restaurant and bars, is the beginning of a journey, guiding citygoers from stations, shopping centres and landmarks, so it was important to design with impact and dynamism in mind. On the ground floor, glass is set from floor to ceiling, a reflection of the canal that creates the illusion that the structure is miraculously floating above the ground. The surrounding area is a public space, populated by terrace seats and benches, allowing citygoers to stop and admire the canal in the cool breeze as they walk by. Square ‘pixel’ windows, colored in a gradient of yellow-orange, are regularly arranged across the east and west facades, contrast sharply with the matte black surface and twinkle in the night like LEDs on a circuit board. After hours, as residents in the hotel turn come and go, lights turn on and off, and the detail of the facade moves and changes, never the same. The north and south facades adopt a black mirror panelled cladding that reflects the canal and surrounding landscape, a more static visual that contrasts with the bright vibrance of the east and west facades.

A central corridor acts as a reflection line, with rooms mirrored either side of it, and to further accentuate this services and vertical movement lines (ie. elevators and stairs) are bundled together in a structure separate from the main building. From the core, there are spectacular views of the courtyard and building facade, and also acts as a landmark and reference point for visitors by car.

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