The Atrium Lobby

Hotels often shout at the door. This one asked for the opposite: a guest who has travelled should enter shade, then height, then a seat, then the desk.

The lobby is a court with a roof. Sandstone floors continue from the drop-off so the outside does not stop at the glass. A dark timber stair climbs one side of the atrium; it is the signpost. The reception is a table, not a counter. The cafe occupies the other edge, close enough to share the volume, far enough not to turn check-in into a restaurant.

Plaster is hand-finished, slightly uneven, so the large room does not go corporate. Linen at the windows takes the glare. The project is hospitality, but the language is still a house — just scaled for strangers who will stay two nights.