Surfaces Focus: The Stratford Hotel by Space Copenhagen


Brand new hotel offering The Stratford opened its doors in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park last year. The interiors design by Space Copenhagen pays particular attention to textures and surfaces


Words by Emily Martin
All Images: Rich Stapleton

The Summer of 2019 saw brand new hotel offering The Stratford open its doors in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as part of a new development. While the building was overseen by architecture practice Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Danish design studio Space Copenhagen looked after the interiors, bespoke furniture and accessories, paying special attention to textures and surfaces. It has created the interior design concept for the building’s lobby, hotel guestrooms, mezzanine, the ground floor Stratford Brasserie, as well as the seventh floor restaurant, Allegra. The public areas each have distinctive design characteristics but are interwoven overall, allowing visitors to move seamlessly between spaces. Gently textured plastered walls, natural oak in earthy tones, warm metals and natural stones, framed by a polished and dark-pigmented concrete floor, contrast softly with the strong, modern structure of the tower itself.

Spacious and modern guestrooms feature softly curved upholstered shapes and stone-clad bathrooms. Image Credit: Rich StapletonSpacious and modern guestrooms feature softly curved upholstered shapes and stone-clad bathrooms. Image Credit: Rich Stapleton

Upon entering the building a large, 9m-high fireplace greets you in the triple-height lobby space. Guests are then drawn towards the bespoke, handcrafted reception desk, which is made of oak with darkened brass detailing, and offset by sculptural lighting. ‘The reception is discreet and subtly hidden behind the staircase ascension to the mezzanine club space,’ say Space Copenhagen founders Signe Bindslev Henriksen and Peter Bundgaard Rützou. ‘The mezzanine floor evokes a feel of lush comfort, and projects a feel of past club exclusivity updated to … fuel creative and leisure thinking.’

Spacious and modern guestrooms feature softly curved upholstered shapes and stone-clad bathrooms. Image Credit: Rich StapletonSpacious and modern guestrooms feature softly curved upholstered shapes and stone-clad bathrooms. Image Credit: Rich Stapleton

Head to the spacious and modern guest rooms and you’ll find floor-to-ceiling windows allowing for plenty of natural light. Natural woods in different hues, warm metals and softly curved upholstered shapes complement each other. Stone-clad bathrooms with a serene ambience, heated floors, separate bathtubs and sculpted vanity mirrors offer supreme comfort.

Spacious and modern guestrooms feature softly curved upholstered shapes and stone-clad bathrooms. Image Credit: Rich StapletonSpacious and modern guestrooms feature softly curved upholstered shapes and stone-clad bathrooms. Image Credit: Rich Stapleton

Founded in 2005, Space Copenhagen works across multiple disciplines, from furniture, lighting and refined objects, to art installations and art direction, to interior design for private homes, hotels and restaurants. The studio’s intuitive approach embodies designs that are distinctively shaped by functional needs and human behaviour.

The founders comment: ‘We have imagined a place where guestrooms are modern, intimate, comfortable and well balanced.’ 

Project Credits

Interior design: Space Copenhagen www.spacecph.dk 
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill www.som.com 
Client: Manhattan Loft Corporation 
Project size: 1,296 sq m (approx) 
Duration: Five years








Progressive Media International Limited. Registered Office: 40-42 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8EB, UK.Copyright 2024, All rights reserved.