A new home away from home. The contemporary evolution of the concept of hospitality changes the way of thinking and designing hotels. No longer separate spaces, but hybrid and multifunctional environments, in which to live experiences. Comfortable places, where you can feel at home, which blend with the city and which know how to respond to new needs: combining business and leisure, coworking areas and proposals for fitness and relaxation.
Expression of the dynamism of Milan and an eclectic and functional design, Urban Hive offers all this. Located along the iconic Corso Garibaldi, in the bohemian district of Brera, a mix of art, fashion, flair and creativity, the new 4-star hotel aims to be a cosmopolitan destination for an audience of international travellers. Born from the restyling of the historic Carlyle Brera hotel, the redevelopment project - which concerned the concept, the common areas and 97 rooms and suites spread over 7 floors - was entrusted to the Vudafieri-Saverino Partners architectural studio, based in Milan and also in Shanghai for ten years.
The concept by Tiziano Vudafieri and Claudio Saverino has given life to a place with an informal mood, full of color and personality, where the symbols of the past and the modern soul of Milan coexist. The choices for the interior design and for the soft decoration reinterpret the tradition of “Milanese-style” design in a contemporary key, citing the elegant timeless modernity of the post-war Masters' works, as well as the myths and symbols of the city, from Madonna al Low Bar. The Brera district, with its intellectual and nonconformist vocation, a meeting place for artists and writers, as well as home to the Pinacoteca and its masterpieces, but also to galleries and ateliers, cafés and bistros, cultural clubs, cinemas and theatres, inspired the soul of the hotel intended as a meeting and social place. Dynamic and intimate at the same time, theUrban Hive it was in fact conceived to transform itself into a social hub, in a continuous exchange between guests and citizens thanks to numerous services that are open to the public: from multifunctional coworking areas to meeting rooms, from cultural events to business lunches and aperitifs offered at the Portico84 Cafè&Bar, with the tables also positioned under the arcades of Corso Garibaldi.
On the ground floor, comfortable colored sofas on light oak parquet, soft lights, wooden bookcases, pop objects, graphics and illustrations make the room warm and welcoming, creating an elegant and relaxed atmosphere. Intense and of great aesthetic impact is the tone of Peacock blue chosen for all the common spaces, such as the lobby, transformed into a meeting point for guests and citizens: for a business appointment, a cocktail or a coffee at the bar, where the semi-circular counter in Canaletto walnut, with a marble top and brass finishes, designed by the architects with geometric diamond patterns that recall the chromatic nuance of the walls. The reception is no longer the fulcrum of the hall, but part of it, combining functions such as lounge bar and space for events. While, to train body and mind, floor – 1 is dedicated to the fitness area, equipped with Nohrd & Technogym machines.
One of the key concepts of Vudafieri-Saverino Partners' intervention is the way in which the spaces dedicated to co-working have been designed. The hotel has adopted a circular vision of the use of the common areas, in order to enhance the surface to give different uses during the day.
For example, the mezzanine dedicated to breakfasts – which can also be accessed via a spectacular heptagonal staircase in oak and steel – after 11 am is transformed into a coworking space for the many city startups looking for places of contamination. Designed for those who use flexible work spaces, it has been designed with movable walls to obtain modular environments where it is possible to obtain three different meeting rooms, as business areas for meetings and conference calls. The space is embellished with wallpaper that depicts architecture and icons of Milan, created from a design by 150UP, the creative studio that followed the visual identity of the project by selecting design objects, illustrated books and creating graphics for the interiors, lifts and windows as well as ceramic plates and posters.
Of particular impact and of great conceptual depth was the redefinition of the 97 rooms and suites of the hotel with a refined atmosphere. The careful study of color has given rise to the choice of three different palettes that alternate on the floors of the rooms – terracotta pink, mint green and light blue – and which in the rooms contrast respectively with the Prussian blue, Persian orange and amber yellow. The furnishings were designed by the architects: from the beds to the wooden headboards with metal inserts, from the bedside tables to the bookcases and shelves up to the mirrors and the bathroom cabinet. The references to the most iconic symbols of Milan, the carpet with a geometric patchwork and vintage charm along the corridors, the dialogue between surfaces and coverings, reflect a tailor-made interior choice reflecting a project which, also through the declinations of the design of the rooms, reflects the two souls of contemporary Milan: the world of business and that of creativity, of which the Brera district is the symbol par excellence. The goal of Vudafieri[1]Saverino Partners was to create a lifestyle structure, integrated with the context, to define a new view in the heart of Milan that could offer experiences and in which, through architecture and design, the travelers were able to feel part of a local community.