COOL COMFORT
Combining sleek minimalism with a sense of warmth and serenity, Melbourne’s United Places elevates the concept of home away from home. By Cushla Chauhan.
Iam peering intently into the discreet doorway of Melbourne’s United Places Botanic Gardens hotel on Domain Road in South Yarra. Elegant brass signage announces I am indeed at the right place, but the understated entrance is the first indication that this new hotel offers something unique in the accommodation landscape: something that takes the ‘local living’ and ‘home-awayfrom-home’ appeal of an apartment and puts it into the context of a luxury boutique hotel.
The door opens, seemingly of its own accord, and a woman walks towards me with a welcome smile. There’s no formal lobby area in this dramatic corridor, no intrusive front desk or bustle of guests to detract from the impact of the surrounds – stark, minimalist, all sharp angles, shards of light and compelling textures. At one end, a sculpture by Melbourne artist Laura Woodward hangs from a conical void, where light slices through the moody monochrome interior. It all packs a powerful punch, exactly as owner Darren Rubenstein intended.
“It’s the beautiful concrete, the striking metal and then the journey of this light,” explains Rubenstein of its impact. “The idea is that the entrance mirrors a Melbourne laneway – it has a secret location feel – and we kept the same bluestone of the footpath, so it’s an extension of outside to in.”
Impeccable design has been key in the development of United Places, a project that property developer and first-time hotelier Rubenstein had pondered for some time before pursuing it for real five years ago.
As well as seeking to celebrate design, fine food and Melbourne itself in the imagined space, he was inspired by his own travel experiences and sought to carve out a new category of hotel. “It was: ‘How do you
transition from that apartment/Airbnb feel, which is really about wanting to feel like you’re part of the city, but also have that certainty of hotel comfort … of knowing it’s secure, clean, that you can call up staff to get whatever you want and that the service will be amazing.’ It was really that hybrid.”
Rubenstein took his brief to Carr Design Group’s Sue Carr and head architect Chris McCue – having worked with them numerous times before and trusting they’d create something remarkable – and also enlisted Projects of Imagination for branding and designing the hotel restaurant, Matilda 159.
There are just 12 suites – nine one-bedroom, three two-bedroom – spanning three floors in the completed hotel, each testimony to the creative team’s obsessive attention to detail. North-facing ‘extrovert’ rooms open to Melbourne’s verdant Royal Botanic Garden, while ‘introvert’ south-side rooms look out to South Yarra’s charming streetscape. Guests are allocated keycards to allow for independent access, while an on-call butler service means there’s the option to dial one for whatever you need – be it toothpaste, theatre bookings or a personal training session.
Entering my own park-oriented suite, the contrast between the cool austerity of the entrance and this inner sanctuary is immediate. While the minimalist blueprint holds true, there’s a warmth and sensuality in every considered detail. “It’s a journey from the starkness and dramatic nature of downstairs, and then this really private cosiness and mystique,” says Rubenstein.
Plush velvet drapes that cocoon the bedroom – charcoal in my suite, deep pink in urban suites to pick up on the red-brick buildings outside – are the first of the interior’s rich textural layers I’m compelled to touch. And the tactile theme flows throughout: from waxy-smooth rendered walls to Loom Turkish towels, organic cotton sheets and artfully curated furnishings like the squishy quilted Patricia Urquiola Redondo sofa in the living area.
There are, of course, abundant elements to impress design aficionados: a Grant Featherston Scape chair, brass signage and strip lighting by Wes Sutton and the perfect imperfection of the Szilvassy ceramics, all testimony to a philosophy of highlighting Australian artisans.
For Rubenstein though, the shower, stocked with impressive Le Labo products, is what he’s particularly proud of, despite its painstaking build. “The bathrooms needed to stand on their own and be a feature, so these glass pods became an experience rather than something to be hidden away,” he says of the capacious showers that, with push entry, are handle-free. “So we have these big shower heads, and used huge slabs of porcelain … from construction point of view it was really hard, as they kept breaking, but as a design result it’s very beautiful, elegant and quite different.”
That determination to elevate every aspect of the interior in United Places means architecture, design, furnishings, even lighting represents the art in this environment – there are no paintings or random artefacts thrown on walls and surfaces for the sake of it. Even the two-bedroom suites’ huge sunken baths embedded within deep window alcoves appear like a sculptural feature, while also providing tub-dwellers the surreal sensation of hovering above the ground concealed by one-way glass.
While there’s a clear diversion from any pragmatic apartment feel, at 66 to 86 square metres these generous spaces are not your typical boxy hotel dwelling. They also include un-hotel-like kitchen conveniences and a washer-dryer, all concealed behind drawers so seamless you have run your hands across their surface to discover where they open.
There’s no real need to bother at all with anything as domestic as preparing meals, though, since Matilda offers preferential seating to hotel guests, complimentary breakfast hampers and in-suite dining. Under the hand of renowned Melbourne chef Scott Pickett, the restaurant’s sumptuous setting, laidback but attentive service and a menu that focuses on native ingredients produce and open-flame, coal and smoke cooking has already made it a favourite among locals.
With a few hours to myself before I dine, I pour myself a glass of limited-release Sullivans Cove whiskey from the mini-bar and slink onto the sunken balcony, where sunlight pools, to peoplewatch and pretend, for a while at least, that United Places is my home, my hood, my Melbourne. Just as Rubenstein would want me to.
For details on United Places Botanic Gardens, go to www.unitedplaces.com.au.