Ovolo Hotel, Wolloomoolloo

Lead Designers Medland Engineering

Entry Description

The Ovolo Woolloomoolloo Hotel is a refurbishment of a heritage site intended to rejuvenate the hotel and create a unique experience for visitors. The hotel interior and rooms have been designed to create a sense of cosyness among the bustling hotel streetscape.

Designed as two elements, "at ease" and "in public", the lighting design incorporates unconventional lighting techniques, low level lighting and carefully placed fittings to attract patrons into the space and appears as a beacon of light in a crowded streetscape. Once within, the lighting creates a sense of intimacy and seclusion throughout through the implementation of human scale lighting, allowing patrons to feel at home in the midst of the public surrounding.

Challenges faced during the design & construction period included heritage restrictions, as the hotel was built on a heritage dock, which affected lighting locations and cable installation, the restrained budget and the expedited design and construction program.