Goddard Littlefair opens Hilton Hotel

Interior designers Goddard Littlefair, specialists in the design and delivery of outstanding luxury hospitality environments, have completed a striking new destination bar called Juliet Rose at the Hilton Hotel Münich City. The result is an exciting and theatrical zoned space with an alchemical, laboratory feel.

The scheme was inspired by the F&B concept of unusual botanical extracts and the importance of process in the creation of its singular ‘root to fruit’ drinks, including a range of signature cocktails and what’s said to be the best coffee in Münich. The scheme both stands out from and also works subtly in harmony with the overall hotel, which has also undergone a thorough revamp by the Goddard Littlefair team.

The bar’s name, Juliet Rose, is taken from one of the most elite roses in the world, developed over a 15-year period by renowned rose breeder David Austin.

As well as lending the concept connotations of craftsmanship and the long-term pursuit of perfection, the ‘Rose’ reference will also be easily understood by a local audience as a nod to Rosenheimer Strasse, the street onto which the bar’s dedicated entrance faces, as well as the Rosenheimer Platz metro station, on top of which the hotel stands.

The generously-apportioned, 90-seat, 180 sq m bar is located on the hotel’s ground floor and is made up of four different seating zones, each with different stand-out features, plus two bars. The main ‘ceremony bar’ is a stunning, monolithic U-shaped design that guests coming from the hotel entrance see as soon as they enter the space, at the far end of a central approach.

A second, smaller-scale coffee bar is made of the same dramatic moss-green and highly-polished granite, with the choice of material referencing the earthiness of botanical ingredients. A bar gantry structure is in brass, with an industrial/lab feel, underscored by an apothecary-style bottle display.

As visitors arrive directly from the hotel, they pass between two large-scale, floor-to-ceiling screens, where a brass-effect structure features ribbed glass OLED panels with a striking inset palm print. The screens were bespoke-manufactured for the project and are just one of many bespoke items that ensure design integrity and exclusivity for the project.

A second highly striking screen-wall faces the hotel entrance lobby and is made up of a brass shelving structure with glass backlit panels where a textured opaque manifestation gives the impression of a linen-style finish and plays with light.

An existing ceiling was removed so that the space’s full height could be used, with a dramatic new lighting structure using brass pipes and large, exposed lamps to add to the geometric, laboratory feel. Architectural lighting for the scheme was created together with DPA Lighting, whilst the stand-out decorative pieces were all bespoke-designed by Goddard Littlefair, with advice from DPA, and manufactured by Peters Design.

As well as the overhead grid structure, these include a stand-out ‘test tube’ style pendant light located over the main bar and a number of vertical, glass-clad wall lights, which refer to the test-tube decorative light in style.

Furniture includes sofas in bottle green leather and loose seating upholstered in pale oyster pink or else in deep orange leather with thin brass upstands and dark turquoise seat backs.

Tables are either a marble-effect silestone, a brass-edged timber-topped design or, for the higher communal table, a series of easily-conjoined tables featuring a print taken from a magnified gold-veined leaf print, supplied by Fameed Khalique and manufactured by the lead contractor on the scheme, Engels. with ice and a sink inside so that it can be moved around to cater to guests anywhere in the space.