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Rose – Hôtel invisible
By : Agence Spatiale en collaboration avec Alinéa
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Communication & Branding
Categories : Environmental Design / Brand Universe : Gold Certification
Coming to life in Quebec City’s Saint-Roch district, Rose – Hôtel invisible, houses some 15 rooms for which our multidisciplinary team created the entire universe, from branding to architecture.
The mission: to expand the boundaries of traditional hospitality by offering an unforgettable hotel where every stay leaves lasting memories. Its self check-in formula became an asset that offered guests total freedom.
In 1896, before changing vocation several times, the establishment was mysteriously called “l’Hôtel des Illusions”. At the crossroads of sleep and illusion, we find the notion of “dream”, a concept explored through the prism of perception games, mirages and trompe-l’œil, like an assumed metaphor suggesting to customers a passage from the world of reality to that of Morpheus.
Located on the upper floors of a fast-food business, with a very discreet entrance on the street, the building in no way presages a hotel use. To compensate for this unexpected welcome, the name “Invisible Hotel” was chosen to ward off skeptics and indicate an atypical experience. The name Rose, feminine and lyrical, personifies the hotel to mark its presence, despite the absence of a reception desk. Rose – Hôtel Invisible, questions and invites discovery.
The mirrored sign plays on invisibility to announce itself. The ribbed glass entrance door distorts the view and opens onto an eponymous sign confirming that the guest is in the right place. To capitalize on the popularity of the name Rose, from the moment they enter, customers are immersed in a musical atmosphere, where iconic lyrics resonate, from Edith Piaf’s La vie en rose to Seal’s Kiss from a rose, as if Rose were speaking to them. In front of him, the staircases are reflected and multiplied in the tinted mirror, evoking Escher’s impossible staircases, which invite the visitor to “climb” towards the dream. Welcome to another world, at the frontier of reality.
Taken in the shape of a minimalist icon, the staircase, a project constraint hijacked into an opportunity, is declined on various supports: coffee mug, stationery, advertising poster, etc. To support the idea of two worlds, the corridors are divided into two by a play of colors, from the carpet to the ceiling, and the rooms are divided into three sections. To support the idea of two worlds, the corridors are divided in two by a play of colors, from the carpet to the ceiling, and the rooms are divided into three sections: a colorful entrance block, a stainless-steel service block, and “on the other side of the mirror”, the soft, plush bedroom area. A tinted light bulb placed at the entrance gives a tone-on-tone light effect in the Grape Skin, Anatolian Brown and Wine Sauce rooms, which is reflected in the shine of the metal block for distorted visual effects. The rosy palette is toned down by bolder accent colors with psychedelic floral wallpapers that embody this pleasantly unusual hallucination.
The tone of communication borders on the absurd, drawing on surrealist literature from André Breton to Maurice Fourre. Registers, years and styles mingle. Along the way, the customer discovers several follies, a hairy armchair, a pink elephant, hidden phrases, as if in a dream filled with memories, where images, sounds and sensations follow one another. On the bedside table, a rose floral mist is offered to customers. Spray generously on pillows: Rose invites them to dream (well)!
« In Wonderland, everyone has a bit of a siphoned side » – Tim Burton.
Collaboration
