InterContinental Sydney relaunched in late 2022 following a $120 million redesign of the 171-year heritage building
Timeless DESIGN WOODS BAGOT PRINCIPAL AND REGIONAL INTERIOR DESIGN LEADER TRACEY WILES SPOKE TO RUTH HOGAN ABOUT HOTEL REFURBISHMENTS AND HERITAGE PROJECTS, INCLUDING THE RECENTLY TRANSFORMED INTERCONTINENTAL SYDNEY.
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t a time when everyone is trying to operate more sustainably, how do you ensure a hotel redesign is current but has longevity.
For me, it’s important to have really conscious choices about materials that are going to wear well, that will get a great patina to them – a handrail or a door handle that feels worn, not worn out, but certainly loved and cherished and something that stands the test of time. I think that is really heartwarming to people. We know that generations have come before us and hopefully they’re there for longer. Beauty is definitely going to be part of sustainability – choosing beautiful materials that last a long time and start to slow down those refurbishment cycles. There’s always a spotlight on architecture but with interiors we need to take responsibility for all that turnover after the building has been built. 72
HM The Business of Accommodation
Demands are changing and as with any industry, the hospitality industry has to be agile.
You’ve worked on many major heritage projects including InterContinental Sydney. Can you speak to the additional challenges that you’re dealing with when working in a precious building like that?
It’s an extreme privilege to be working on these buildings. We learn so much about what architects and designers have done before us, and it gives us a base, something really grounded in heritage; and to be part of a lineage makes it less fickle. I’m really interested in designing for permanence and longevity. With a heritage building, the client is usually already on board with that, and there’s a certain quality of materials that are already there. At Intercontinental Sydney, there is incredible detailing around the lift portals, to a level we wouldn’t put the emphasis on or the spend today, so we can take that detail and pull a materiality thread from there and from the brickwork and the sandstone and then look at it with a contemporary eye. Certainly, the oversizing of the black and white tiles was a reference back to heritage, but it was also looking to what is contemporary, bold and courageous – something that has been touched with the hand of today. There are so many stories and narratives to pull on. It’s an incredible thing to work on heritage buildings, but technically, they’re difficult. They throw up all sorts of problems – they’re like a petulant teenager.
