If you rang in the New Year watching the ball drop on Times Square in New York City, I hope you stayed at 1 Hotel to balance the bustle of the crowd with respite in nature. It’s a 15 minute stroll or 10 minute bus ride. With everything at your fingertips, the two places still seem worlds apart.
1 Hotel in Central Park recently incorporated Bark House® Wall Coverings into the décor. Most of our clients create designs with the intent to integrate one of the many attributes of our natural products into their project. However, 1 Hotel is built to embrace nature on a larger scale. The story of this luxury boutique hotel is inspiring. It seems that 1 Hotel is positioning itself to be the first mainstream luxury brand whose guiding mission and core values are green, ecological sustainability.
Read for yourself – from the 1 Hotel website:
DESIGNED BY NATURE
Great places are defined by their moments of undisturbed nature. Incredible locations where we build cities just to stay a little longer.
For us, nature makes the place. It’s what we remember wherever we go. The one thing that draws us together, defining how we build and interact. We feel both calm and excitement in its presence. Providing the space to be alone, but also to gather. We don’t necessarily notice nature’s presence, but we can always feel its absence.
These factors brought us to create a new way to develop a place that feels like home. Bringing in the outside world with non-artificial textures, materials and ways of doing business. Creating a place where the surrounding world seamlessly flows into the lobby and down the hallways.
“I have come to realize that true luxury is not derived from extravagance, but from recognizing the simple, abundant natural beauty that surrounds us. … I wanted to capture the beauty of nature in a hotel and in doing so, commit to safeguarding it as best I can, a responsibility that I believe we all share. It’s 1 world.”
Barry Sternlicht, CEO & Chairman, 1 Hotel
…We started Starwood Hotels and Resorts to challenge industry standards with renegade concepts … With W Hotels, we pushed it even further, turning our hotels into destinations. We built vibrant social spaces, indulgent spas, and large gyms that made you linger. We did this all to delight the guest and to create memories with unique scale, texture, color and smell. We created great hotels, but after 10 years as Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, I wanted to build something more.
So we introduce to you 1 Hotels. We are not a brand, we are a cause. A cause built off a simple idea: the world around us is beautiful and we want to keep it that way. We’ve designed our hotel and products to highlight the startling beauty of nature, fusing luxury with responsibility to create refreshing experiences. At 1, you’ll find open spaces bathed in natural light, food made with the freshest organic ingredients, and recycled and reclaimed wood and materials. By focusing on simple things that make life better, we’re introducing a new way to experience luxury living. But 1 is more than a hotel – it’s a philosophy and a platform for change. We’re focused on minimizing our footprint and supporting organizations who care about the same things we do – sustainability, the environment, and local communities. We’re learning as we go because this is a journey and we know we don’t have all the answers. We’re starting by asking the right questions and posing our solutions.