Canberra hotel dynasty By MAX AGNEW
Kappelle have done it again! Director Ivan Krizaic has recently opened Canberra’s newest hotel, the eight-level Aria Hotel with 128 rooms of luxury and style that includes cutting edge technology.
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hen making the decision to construct yet another hotel in Canberra, the Kappelle Group did not have to look far for finding the right designers as Renfree Hanrahan Architects is well known throughout the ACT. This company produced plans that would have this 4.5 star project a Class 3 building with 2A basement. The plans called for provision for the basement to include two storeys underground for a car park and a portion of the ground floor that would also be partly dedicated to car parking. It is on this floor that the hotel now has a service area for breakfasts and general reception.
The plans included two atriums in the building – one near the entry (glass curtain window) and the other in the core of the building itself. This meant there would be seven actual levels above ground for apartments, totalling 128 rooms. An interesting aspect of what the architects also established within their plans for the future would include making provision if the day ever comes for all rooms to be easily converted into apartments. All the units would have balconies, with 74 of them constructed to be fully operable with kitchens and laundries.
External finish According to Arthur Pattison of Kappelle, the building technique called for post tensioned slabs (Cantilevers), concrete columns, block-work walls that were structural external shelf angles, with posts and lintels. The external finish was for smooth cement rendering with acrylic render on fibre cement sheet, and mac render applications. These would be sealed and painted with silicon joints.
Arthur also explained how the curtain windows and revolving door were made with Vitrapanel and Vitrabond feature panelling and recessed down-lighting. The vertical speedwall utilised in the scissor fire stairs were for fire separation, with curtain windows supported by fire rated structural steel beams.
Internal finish Hebel acoustic walls were used along with furring channel with 13mm Gyprock walls with fire-check and aqua-check utilised. Targeted recessed down-lights matched the furniture layouts, with frameless shower-screens of combination of both tiles and carpet. The kitchens were designed with thermal rap coated doors, soft close hinges, Caesarstone bench-tops, toughened heat resistant glass splashbacks, stainless fridge and stainless integrated dishwasher, with under-mount sinks and stainless tap-ware. Vintech was responsible for the automation, with the power and lighting controlled by a Vintech card reading system. This also now controls power to split system air conditioning (per unit) and is automatically shut down after the guest
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