DPA Lighting Consultants has built up an enviable reputation for creating stunning hotel lighting schemes worldwide. Two recent high profile projects in Athens and Clerkenwell, London has added to their portfolio...

dpa lighting consultants have always been very active in the Hotel sector with projects throughout the world and in the United Kingdom. The challenges that hotels present are incredibly varied, on one hand there may be a demand for a huge corporate gathering, whilst at the other extreme they may be trying to create the warmth and comfort of a home.

dpa have recently completed the Hilton Hotel in Athens which is to be used as the base for the International Olympic Committee during this year's Games and the Zetter in Clerkenwell, London, a privately owned chic addition to the London hotel scene. Both hotels were challenging in different ways, the Athens project was an existing hotel property that has undergone a major refurbishment, whilst the Zetter was a disused building that was to be converted into 'a restaurant with rooms'.

The Hilton Athens owners, Alpha Bank Group, and the design team settled on an outright contemporary design with clean lines and a fresh feel to the public areas, and an innovative, friendly guest room solution. The Zetter, set in the heart of Clerkenwell, has achieved a wonderful balance of respect for the Victorian architecture and innovative, eco friendly, design with fabulous style. The property has wonderfully proportioned windows, which is a tremendous benefit to all the rooms. To maintain the light, spacious feel, the architects, Chetwood Associates, punched an atrium through the heart of the building, thus allowing natural light in and a connection with the outside world from the guest corridors.

The artificial lighting reflects the eco friendly goals of the project, with the guest rooms primarily lit with fluorescent light. This may sound inappropriate until you examine the method in which the light is delivered, primarily indirectly and with a choice of colour or warm white light for the guest to select depending on the mood they want to create. The public areas are stylish with the fabulous feature chandelier in the lobby supported by discreet architectural lighting elements to the other points of interest. The restaurant again benefits from amazing windows allowing views in from the outside and a connection to the Clerkenwell streets from within. The purpose designed pendant fixtures provide a soft, ambient light, which is supported with candles on the tables, floor recessed uplights to the window reveals and a number of elements to the bar counter and bar back, thus creating visual interest to this area.

The Hilton Athens success is already acclaimed even before the Olympics. The lobby is flanked by two, top lit areas, one being a lounge which links through to the Byzantine restaurant, the other being a double height space which accesses a sumptuous lobby bar and the world renowned Milos restaurant. These spaces provide bright, well daylit areas, that at night turn into atmospheric volumes, enhanced with a combination of blue uplights, adjustable tungsten halogen downlights, a cold cathode floating ceiling detail and a variety of decorative elements at low level to provide human scale.

The guest rooms and bathrooms have been given the same level of contemporary thinking as the public areas with floating ceiling details, discreet low voltage recessed adjustable downlights and a palette of decorative features at low level. The suites, like the rest of the public areas, benefit from a scene set dimming control system provided by Dynalite.

The Byzantine restaurant enjoys large areas of windows and an interesting roof light form. The large space has been broken up with a central feature enclosed by a hanging metal screen. The screen shimmers with close off set downlights grazing across the textured material. Floating details in the ceiling are emphasised with a combination of warm white and blue cold cathode, colours very much from the traditional Byzantine palette. Low level hollow stacked glass screens are internally lit to provide vibrance adjacent to the tables. A ring of columns are uplit from low level and a variety of other architectural features are duly enlivened with appropriated positioned and aimed luminaires. The restaurant has a glistening show kitchen, which provides the theatre in the space; the kitchen is lit with a series of carefully positioned low voltage downlights.

The hotel benefits from an extensive array of function/ballrooms, together with smaller meeting spaces. Here the same slot detail as the lobby was used to conceal both general down lighting and a series of track and spotlights, which enables total flexibility. The spaces are decorated with a series of contemporary glass chandeliers, each located in a large circular recess. The recess is equipped with both blue and warm white cold cathode, which allows a variety of lighting scenes to be created.

The top of the building, with its incredible views over the city, comprises of two terraces, the Galaxy Bar and an extremely special function space. The Galaxy Bar itself and associated terrace are the places to be at night in Athens. The interior and lighting harmoniously create a magical atmosphere whilst emphasising the views beyond. The Bar, with its metal mesh ceiling and back lit alabaster wall, has created a venue that people just want to go to and be seen at. The Bar itself has an edge lit stacked glass base, a series of decorative glass table lights and a display in the windows, highlighted by recessed low voltage adjustable fixtures above.

The project would not be complete without a state of the art health club, inserted inside at pool deck level a new internal pool, gym, treatment rooms, changing rooms and relaxation areas have been created. As elsewhere on this project the lighting has been used to enhance the space and create drama and excitement. A series of slots containing cold cathode change colour day to night, as does a large area of backlit translucent ceiling in the gym. LED panels, colour sleeved fluorescents and simple downlights, together with fibre optics uplighting the columns in the pool add the final lighting touches.

The project is widely acclaimed as a great success and a breath of fresh air to the normal, middle of the road, traditional hotels.

Hilton Athens
Owner: Alpha Bank Group
Operator: Hilton International
Lighting Consultants: dpa lighting consultants (Nick Hoggett, Richard Bolt)
Project Architects: Alexandros N Tombazis, Harry K Bougadellis
Project Manager: Elliniki Technodomiki
Interior Designer: Bilkey Llinas Design (USA)
Main Lighting Manufacturers Used: Dynalite Europe; Hilco Lighting Solutions; Cube Lighting; Concord:marlin; Encapsulite; Louis Poulsen; Wila Lighting; Oldham Lighting

Zetter, Clerkenwell, London
Owner: Urban Hotels, Mark Sainsbury and Michael Benyan
Project Architects: Chetwood Associates
Interior Designer: Precious McBane
Lighting Consultants: dpa lighting consultants (Nick Hoggett, Richard Bolt)
Main Lighting Manufacturers Used: Hilco Lighting Solutions; Thorn; Louis Poulsen; iGuzzini; Astro; Lutron; Neolec Lighting; Lyktan Lighting (UK) Ltd; Light Projects; Encapsulite

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