2019 Gallery
Winner: Best Hotel Design
Richards and Spence for The Calile Hotel
48 James St
Fortitude Valley, Queensland
The Calile Hotel is an urban resort with a quietly brutal aesthetic. Brick and concrete overlap with verdant landscaping to create a robust and charming setting. The Calile Hotel is a new destination for a quiet capital city, demonstrating both civic ambition and a dignified hot weather civility.
Jury Citation
The Calile Hotel in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley is a prime example of a large budget put to fantastic use. The design works to conjure an impressive sense of luxe escapism, creating a resort atmos-phere despite its intensely urban location. Every space is well-considered, both materially and functionally, allowing an effortless flow between public, semi-private and private spaces. Its white brick, stone and expressed concrete structure and restrained colour palette is unique and striking enough that it already has a sense of the iconic. The hotel is inviting to the public while maintaining the required sense of exclusivity for registered guests, adding remarkable value to the broader neighbourhood and city. The attention to even the smallest detail – particularly on such a large and ambitious project – is wildly impressive. The jury believes it is this detail-oriented thinking, along with the Calile’s memorable aesthetic, that makes this an internationally significant project.
