The recent launch of Hotel Verta, situated on the River Thames at Battersea, south London marks the end of three years of architectural lighting design input for consultants Light Bureau. Hotel Verta, part of the Metropolitan Set from von Essen hotels, is the only hotel in Europe adjoined to a heliport and offers a unique hotel experience.
The project found inspiration in the golden days of aviation, combining location with luxury and style and classic design with contemporary features. Light Bureau was commissioned by von Essen hotels to deliver a comprehensive lighting solution for the exterior and interior spaces, subtly integrated into the building, ensuring the visual emphasis remains focused on the high-quality finishes and artefacts.
The lighting throughout the hotel is deliberately designed to enhance the guest experience, while remaining subordinate to the interior design. Associate designer Karolina Zielinska stated that a chief design principle for the project is amalgamation of the light itself. This is considered to be the most important factor than the appearance of the luminaires. Wherever possible, lighting is integrated within the furniture details and architectural elements.
All of this is achieved without compromising the basic corporate social responsibility strategy employed by von Essen hotels for their first turnkey new build project. The lighting has a minimal carbon footprint, exceeding current UK energy legislation (Part L).
The combination of daylight design and sensing, energy-efficient artificial lighting and lighting controls proved fundamental in achieving sustainable design within the building.
There are 70 guestrooms including six suites within the hotel located on floors two to five. In an attempt to visually reduce the length and the feeling of confined space within the guestroom corridors, the interior design utilises a variation in wall finishes. One side of the corridor is dark and one side is light. This is reinforced by wall mounted luminaires located next to entry doors. The downward light distribution highlights the room number and VDA card reader, creating a rhythm of light through the circulation space.
Hotel guestrooms are furnished with original artwork and bespoke furniture. The design and quality of materials of the individual rooms is enhanced by sensitive illumination. Downlighting, cove lighting, ambient lighting from floor and table luminaires, lighting integrated within wardrobes, bathroom mirrors, wall lights, and so on, add multiple layers to the space, where the dark / light concept of finishes was also applied.
Each room is equipped with a custom designed control panel which can be used to create different lighting scenes, enabling guests to define what kind of lighting is required depending on mood, time of day or visual amenity.
Bar Verta and lounge on the mezzanine level is designed to be a contemporary bar. The gold and black marble and striking lighting create a destination bar on the south bank of the Thames that is suitable for socialising. Spa Verta, located below ground, is a place where hotel guests can temporarily escape from the hectic world above. With no daylight penetration, artificial lighting plays a key role in creating a convivial ambience, setting the tone for the guest experience.
The main issue faced by Light Bureau was how to handle the transition between the open, spacious upper levels of the hotel and the small, enclosed basement with lower ceilings and a lack of daylight penetration, to ensure that this space doesn’t appear cramped. The lighting achieves this by creating a hierarchy of illuminance levels.
The hydrotherapy pool on Level 2 virtually glows with light which is achieved through the stainless steel surface of the pool reflecting light from carefully positioned underwater spotlights. In spite of the limited choice of luminaires due to IP rating protection requirements in this wet/damp location, and the regular long hours of daily operation of the lighting system, an original lighting solution was created.
