The recent renovation of the Hutton Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., points to an important trend: using design to create a distinctive sense of place.
Music City has experienced a hotel construction boom in recent years, making for a more competitive market. The owners of the Hutton, a downtown boutique hotel, remodeled some common areas to appeal to prominent musician clientele.
As part of the project, two Writers Rooms were added to the hotel grounds, just steps from the main building.
The two spaces, at 379 sf and 422 sf, share kitchen and dining areas and can host up to 15 people at a time. The rooms are decked out with studio recording equipment so that visiting musicians can tinker with new songs and record them. It’s an ideal situation for a musician spending several days or more in the city.
Studio 11 Design collaborated with Red Light Management and singer/songwriters Dierks Bentley and Ryan Tedder on the project. Bentley, drawing from his Arizona roots, suggested Saltillo tile, refined rustic elements, and layered Navajo area rugs for one of the rooms. Tedder’s contribution included natural materials, a loft-style feel, and unobstructed daylight for the other room.
The hotel also added a 300-person performance space, for intimate shows.
Curated artwork and antique furnishings throughout the hotel reflect country music luminaries and local history.
This type of authentic regional flavor is something travelers are looking for, says Kellie Sirna, Principal and Co-founder, Studio 11 Design. Accordingly, employees will have another duty: “Hotel staff members are going to become storytellers as they provide background on the various pieces,” says Sirna.
Related Stories
Hotel Facilities | Feb 12, 2018
Circular hotel will be world’s first energy positive hotel concept above the Arctic Circle
The hotel will provide 360-degree views of the Svartisen glacier and the surrounding arctic nature.
Hotel Facilities | Jan 24, 2018
U.S. hotel markets with the largest construction pipelines
Dallas, Houston, and New York lead the way, with more than 460 hotel projects in the works.
Hotel Facilities | Nov 10, 2017
The hotel of the future has just the right amount of tech
CallisonRTKL’s recent survey helps shed some light on how the hotel of the future might strike a balance between tech and the human touch.
Hotel Facilities | Oct 6, 2017
This year’s Radical Innovation Award winners showcase portable and flexible hotel designs
The grand prize hotel concept gives new meaning to “back to nature.”
Adaptive Reuse | Oct 5, 2017
Wexford’s latest innovation center breaks ground in Providence
The campus is expected to include an Aloft hotel.
Giants 400 | Sep 22, 2017
Welcome home: Hotels want guests to feel more like residents than visitors
Because hotels can take as long as six years to complete, spotting trends—and differentiating them from fads—is tough when tastes and systems change so rapidly.
Giants 400 | Sep 22, 2017
Top 80 hotel construction firms
Turner Construction Co., Swinerton, and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest hotel sector contractor and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 22, 2017
Top 30 hotel engineering firms
NV5 Global, WSP, and DeSimone Consulting Engineers top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest hotel sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 22, 2017
Top 60 hotel architecture firms
Gensler, WATG and Wimberly Interiors, and HKS top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest hotel sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
