“We give visitors two ‘bangs’ here,” says Burdifilik design director Diego Burdi of his firm’s 6,500-square-foot W Hotel Downtown Atlanta Condominium Sales Center.
The first is a foretaste of the “fun and flirty” ambiance associated with W Hotels. Visitors are greeted by an expansive, gleaming black terrazzo floor with an oasis-like conversation area. “Atlanta is all about being green and lush,” Burdi explains. He makes reference to the urban context with bits of dichroic mirror assembled as pixilated leaves and flowers, superimposed on a wall-panel system of smoked grey-green glass with varying amounts of colour saturation. The floral-bloom motif repeats at giant scale on the upholstery fabric on the curving ottoman that forms part of the seating group. This includes a great big circular sofa and a playful, suspended white wicker cocoon swing.
The second “bang” is the closing rooms, where soothing cream walls and soft indirect lighting “make you feel like you’re entering heaven,” as Burdi says. A glass storefront with opaque vertical stripes of double-sided mirror partially screen the closing rooms from the lobby.
Actually, there’s a third “bang”: the model suite. Visitors will relate to the stock pieces of furniture by the likes of B&B Italia, Minotti and Knoll that they may already own or can order for themselves. Then they’re intrigued to see them used in such eclectic settings. In the bedroom, for instance, a tall, polished chrome sculpture climbs the custom-stained zebra wood wall.
An unusual grey colour scheme ties the display rooms together. “We wanted to do something neutral enough to attract the masses, but different enough to create a point of memory,” say Burdi.
Design team: Diego Burdi, design director; Paul Filek, managing partner; Mariko Nakagawa, William Lau, Helen Chen and Anthony Tey, designers; and Anna Jurkiewicz and Edwin Reyes, CAD production