Design Focus: The Lobby

By Craig McKie, Co-founder & Creative Director, Bell & Swift

Described as the ‘hardest working space of a hotel’ the lobby sets the tone for every guest’s experience. Craig McKie, Bell & Swift’s Co-founder & Creative Director, talks about what to consider when designing the contemporary hotel lobby space and how design can help the space to function on a range of levels.

The multi-functional lobby

The hotel lobby must do so much now. It’s not just an entrance space these days, where you simply arrive at a big desk to check in or wait for a taxi. Hotel guests expect to be able to relax, have a drink with friends, enjoy a meal or work in peace in a hotel lobby. The space really must do it all and deliver ‘wow’ impact at the same time.

On top of the functions expected, the lobby is the primary space to impress. Experiencing the space, the guest should receive the full, enjoyable impression of what it’s like to stay there, how they’ll be treated and how they’ll feel. It’s the first brand-hit, and, as such, needs to get across the ‘taste of things to come’ to make their visit alluring and exciting.

Considering scale

Lobbies can be grand, lofty spaces. Think of a central or front atrium with lots of glass, and maybe double-height ceilings. These can be intimidating spaces where voices echo and acoustics magnified. Consider what can be done to make the lobby more welcoming and comfortable.

We’ve talked about how flexible spaces are a real design trend for hotels in 2023, and how guests expect to be able to do it all, in aesthetically pleasing surrounds. Balancing the ‘form and function’ that’s required, lobby furnishings can strategically screen and divide space; making areas that are more intimate and less overlooked.

A guest is more likely to explore the different facilities of a hotel lobby, for example, a bar or restaurant, if the area is inviting, friendly and welcoming, without huge expanses of space to navigate. At the Hilton, Glasgow, we used screens and greenery to divide up the larger space, encouraging guests to linger and relax, enjoy a coffee, work or be alone with a book, without feeling ‘on show’ as they would in a wide-open space.

Lighting scheme

The potential lighting has to set a scene, and transform that scene, from day to night, or for special events never fails to amaze me. Lighting is always top of our considerations when designing for brand look, feel and signature guest experience of the lobby.

Depending on the lighting, guests can feel as if they’re entering another world, or era, which contributes hugely to the magical, transformative experience.  

From the quirky, eclecticism of a bygone age, for example at the Loch Rannoch Hotel where you know instantly you’re in a country house hotel in the Scottish Highlands, to the contemporary welcome and comfort of Escapade Silverstone, we deploy lighting schemes to enhance the right atmosphere.

It’s important to make the lighting scheme flexible according to the space’s many functions too. Again, we come back to multiple use of the lobby space, and we will usually set up a varied number of different lighting scenes, to be utilised and switched between for different times of day, events and occasions. And we will use lighting to enhance certain features, creating atmosphere, as we have done at Hilton, Glasgow, with the central sculptural piece in the lobby.

Organic spaces

Clients, as well as guests, are now aware of how they want their hotel spaces, the lobby in particularly, to react upon the senses. Guests are looking for indications of sustainability, an appreciation of the natural world and how ‘bringing the outside in’ contributes to a sense of wellbeing and health.

We’re conscious of the need for spaces that feel organic and earthy. Again, something we’ve mentioned and picked up as a design trend for 2023. Use of greenery and a range of exciting biophilic design can be employed here.

It’s important to not just go for aesthetic here. Science must be considered in terms of what plants will thrive in the environment. We work with specialists to ensure that the plants will be happy, and appropriate for the conditions of the space. Often, it’s necessary to use a mix of real flora and fauna, and everlasting, to ensure the long-term health of the chosen plants.

Along with the consideration in making spaces organic is the appreciation of how smell contributes to an atmosphere. Our hotel clients are increasingly aware of it as a design factor and how brand experience comes through all our senses, not just seeing, hearing and touching.

Appropriate design for the space

We’re always keen to create impact in the lobby area, but not at the expense of comfort, or aspects of the hotel’s brand. It’s about taking your cues from the brand to translate into the space through the many design elements available to you. Subtlety can often work in the most powerful of ways. For example, we’re using superb joinery pieces and furnishing for a tactile, comfortable experience at Escapade Silverstone, that conveys just the right atmosphere of excitement and relaxation for the guests stepping off the racetrack.

If you want to view more of our projects, read about the approach to lobby design, and see the end result, please visit our Projects page. Similarly, if you’d like to discuss a potential refurbishment, please get in touch.