words Anna Bates
The stairs, bedrooms, restaurant and lobby areas of boutique hotel The Andaz were host to a series of installations by the Royal College of Art’s Platform 10 design students earlier this month.
Called Private View, the site-specific exhibition was a reaction to the recent redesign and restructuring of the hotel (previously the Great Eastern), on London’s Liverpool Street.
“The hotel has changed to become a more personal experience,” says design products tutor Daniel Charny. “There’s no reception, no concierge – no facade of service. The students’ work reacted to this. Much of their work dealt with the private.”
Among the pieces were Olivia-Flore Decaris’ series of lampshades, which hung from the ceiling and turned into cocoon-like structures, allowing you to hide away inside them.
Alon Meron designed a living room on wheels; all the components of a living space such as a TV, a bed and a sofa, could be rearranged, giving guests the power to create their own space – a privilege not usually permitted in hotel rooms.
Maciek Wojcicki’s Stair Tamers turned staircases into armchairs and seating, while Gregor Timlin created a private cinema screening a film he made himself about the loneliness of living in cities – to watch it you have to stick your head in a box.
The exhibition is the third that design products students from the RCA have exhibited at the hotel. This year’s show was also presented at DMY – the young designers’ showcase at Berlin’s DesignMai.
Maciek Wojcicki’s Stair Tamers
Gregor Timlin's private cinema
Alon Meron's living room on wheels
