Curating Capella - Design Hotel Series

Written by Alison Lewis

If we’re talking about Australian design hotels on the bucket list, 5-star Capella Sydney is right up there with the best of them. Design-led Australian hotels and resorts are surprisingly few and far between, but Capella, with stunning destinations around the globe, is securing Australia on the design map.

Located in the historic Sandstone Precinct of Sydney, what was once the Department of Education building has been re-imagined as luxury accommodation, cuisine and a celebration of Australian culture through its “interiors, location and experiences.”

When I started researching the architecture, interior design and objet d’art and styling teams behind the boutique hotel, I felt a swell of pride knowing two of the three teams are Melbourne based studio’s. Sydney based architectural studio Make Architects, alongside Melbourne-based BAR Studio and Simone Haag are iconic in high-end design and while BAR Studio has a wealth of experience in luxury boutique hospitality projects (they do have an office in Madrid after all), Simone’s objet d-art curation so revered in residential design, is resplendent in world-class luxury.

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Capella Sydney laments as a re-awakening of a historic building that balances “storied architectural features with a contemporary design aesthetic.” A clear commitment to embracing the history of the building while transforming it into something beautiful, through a careful selection of old and new, adds to the narrative of the space while enhancing the pre-existing layers of history and giving them a contemporary place in the world.

The interiors take their cue from the exterior originality of the building, from colour and hue to texture and tone and work with the modern addition of glass and steel to provide a contemporary overlay. Layers of softness makes it feel lived in while the use of scale, both grand and small, adds friction and allows the eye to bounce around the space, taking in all of it’s lush textures and tactility.

What’s left is a curated experience, steeped in intention and purpose with not a single corner left behind.

It’s no wonder Capella has won a plethora of awards and this interior designer can’t wait to see what Capella and Team Simone Haag create in their refreshed Manor House accommodation in Singapore. I know where I’d rather be.

To book Capella Sydney, simply click the link HERE.

You can check out the Capella x The Local Project video HERE.