IHG (International Hotel Group), owners of Crowne Plaza Hotels, commissioned Conran and Partners to reposition the brand to make it more relevant to a changing customer experience and appeal to the requirements of modern business travellers. Subsequently we designed the first of the new flagship hotels, Crowne Plaza Paris, République.

The Place de la République has huge significance for the French nation, with the statue of Marianne as the personification of the French Republic, commemorating the founding of the First Republic of France in 1792. It is also the point where three different arrondissements of the city meet. The hotel occupies an attractive Haussmann building, formerly a department store.

We have reconfigured the lobby area of the hotel to meet the changing requirements of modern business travellers seeking more comfortable public – and semi-public – spaces in which to work and relax. The reception desk is set back slightly, positioned opposite the main guest entrance, allowing the centrally located ‘monument wall’ to assume a key focus, with its visual references derived from the statue of Marianne informing the lobby area’s design narrative.The space is tech savvy, while acknowledging the need to embed humanity in the design to create a comfortable place to work and relax. Materiality and palette are central to our design thinking. Consequently, the blueprint we created for Crowne Plaza has even informed the rug design and the artwork selection which are used to emphasise the drama of the various spaces through effective scene-setting and a cohesive lighting strategy.

This project also demonstrates how leisure-orientated spaces are taking precedence over more corporate approaches to hotel design even when they are targeted at predominantly business audiences.

IHG (International Hotel Group), owners of Crowne Plaza Hotels, commissioned Conran and Partners to reposition the brand to make it more relevant to a changing customer experience and appeal to the requirements of modern business travellers. Subsequently we designed the first of the new flagship hotels, Crowne Plaza Paris, République.

The Place de la République has huge significance for the French nation, with the statue of Marianne as the personification of the French Republic, commemorating the founding of the First Republic of France in 1792. It is also the point where three different arrondissements of the city meet. The hotel occupies an attractive Haussmann building, formerly a department store.

We have reconfigured the lobby area of the hotel to meet the changing requirements of modern business travellers seeking more comfortable public – and semi-public – spaces in which to work and relax. The reception desk is set back slightly, positioned opposite the main guest entrance, allowing the centrally located ‘monument wall’ to assume a key focus, with its visual references derived from the statue of Marianne informing the lobby area’s design narrative.

The space is tech savvy, while acknowledging the need to embed humanity in the design to create a comfortable place to work and relax. Materiality and palette are central to our design thinking. Consequently, the blueprint we created for Crowne Plaza has even informed the rug design and the artwork selection which are used to emphasise the drama of the various spaces through effective scene-setting and a cohesive lighting strategy.

This project also demonstrates how leisure-orientated spaces are taking precedence over more corporate approaches to hotel design even when they are targeted at predominantly business audiences.