The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
Industry without Art Is Brutality, John Ruskin once mused. Indeed, art is an expression of individuality and creativity. It can transform the ordinary and functional into something extraordinary and exciting. This maxim applies to a former power station that once supplied energy to Buckingham Palace whose grounds are now the location of one of London’s hottest new hotels and entertainment spaces. A place where the bon vivant want to be seen. This is Art ‘otel Battersea.
The Art’otel is London’s rival to its cousins in Amsterdam and Budapest. There could be no better place to build a new hotel in the UK capital that pays homage to creativity than Battersea, a vibrant new riverside neighbourhood, with its roof gardens. Art’otel is a masterpiece that mixes well into London’s hospitality palate yet stamps its own unique personality on the landscape inside and out. It is the most unique place to stay and dine. All this innovation can be found within this new hotel building designed by Foster + Partners.
Battersea was once the home of London’s largest coal-fired power station on the south bank of the River Thames in Nine Elms, Wandsworth, just next door. This iconic Grade II listed building, the handiwork of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, has now been remodelled inside as one of London’s most exciting leisure destinations.
The inside of the power station has been turned into a shopping mall called Circus Village, where you can find all the designer brands and a plethora of bars, restaurants, leisure and entertainment venues. This is a prime example of a legendary London landmark being turned into a useful and aesthetically pleasing space. Six million bricks were used to build the original structure and another million during its restoration making it one of Europe’s biggest brick-built buildings, but its soaring towers are what make it so iconic.
Now it is the centre of a new cultural district and neighbourhood for London. Electric Boulevard is filled with homes, offices and shops as well as a park located along a new pedestrianised high street and subway within the grounds of the iconic Power Station.
It is also the site of one of the most eclectic hotels in London. The hotel itself is a gallery, with iconic pieces of art displayed throughout all the public areas, ready to be explored and discovered. The interiors of the 164-room Art’otel Battersea Power Station were designed by Spanish artist and designer Jaime Hayon. His designs are inspired by the Power Station’s history and heritage as well as its future. Pink Floyd once used the power station as the cover for its album and the hotel has a piece of art that pays homage to this. Indeed, the futuristic hotel is also a gallery, with iconic pieces of art displayed throughout all the public areas. Decorated in bold colours there are neon sculptures and paintings of enigmatic people with wellies on their heads and top hats on backwards. The dining room is eclectic with reds and pinks and reminiscent of Carnaby Street and its Rolling Stones lips.
The 357 guest bedrooms showcase a bold and colourful palette while art plays a key role in the wider design concept of the hotel. The rooms are minimalist with splashes of colour. The tv screens welcome you in with prints taken from Vincent van Gough’s Starry Night. You walk down a corridor past a circular mirror and past a postmodern art piece into the wider room which is painted pink with a crisp white bedspread, a bright yellow bucket seat and a green headboard.
The skyline rooms are fabulous, from room 1414 you have an excellent viewing platform of the comings and goings of Battersea railway station and its interchange feeding into Clapham Junction, and one can watch long trains zig-zagging across the lines. The bathrooms have a large shower and Keith Murphy amenities designed exclusively for the hotel.
The masterpiece suite is the best room in the hotel, ideal for families and sleeps two adults and two children, it is 100 m2 features a king size bed and a lounge and dining area and is also on the 14th floor.
As well as being a wonderful place to stay when visiting the capital, Art ‘otel is a fantastic place to be entertained. Art aficionados will appreciate that the hotel has its own gallery, while the Grand Café features sculptures hanging high above guests’ heads in an exquisite drum. Custom-made tapestries are displayed in the round, for both diners and visitors to enjoy.
Foodies are also flocking to Joia to feast on two-star Michelin star food by Portuguese culinary maestro Henrique Sa Pessoa, who also happens to have an award-winning restaurant in Lisbon. You’ll find Joia on the fifteenth-floor commanding exquisite views.
The restaurant has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula offering a blend of fusion tastes from Catalonia and Portugal. There’s a fabulous tapas menu to share with classic Spanish tortilla, octopus’ salad and hand dived scallops or larger plates for bigger appetites like Iberico pork cheeks or suquet consisting of monkfish & red prawn stew, potatoes and almonds or arroz de Cogumelos made up of wild mushrooms, black truffle and azores island cheese. The puddings are also to die for with eclectic mixes such as goat’s cheese ice cream or dark chocolate mousse. As you watch day turn to night the sleek lines of the architecture glow and the lights twinkle and dance against the curved sleek exterior. This is an ideal location for either a girl’s night out or a special date with your other half.
Breakfasts at the ground floor restaurant TOZI are superb, and all-inclusive for guests while you are living the high life, why not start the day with a fresh fruit salad and coffee, followed by a rich lobster benedict, which is super tasty and easy on the waistline too, the healthier choice. You can wash it down with fresh juices and enjoy a morning paper from The New York Times or The Telegraph as you marvel in the architecture in this light and an airy atrium. There really is no better way to start the day.
Just one floor up from this skyline destination restaurant and bar is a stunning rooftop swimming pool overlooking the Power Station’s famous four chimneys and art-inspired interiors. Start the day with wellness in mind. Take a morning dip in this steaming hot infinity pool as you watch the sunrise over the iconic skyline punctuated with the exotic chimneys that rear up like gigantic Greek pillars. Indeed, they have been the muse of artists like the legendary punk band Pink Floyd who once flew an inflatable pig across them.
From this vantage point, Battersea is so mesmerising it may as well be the dark side of the moon. In the evening one can indulge in creative cocktails in the rooftop lounge styled by bar manager Alessandro Mannello whose signature beverage is the Safira Rosa, made up of vida mezcal, elderflower, grapefruit soda, rose petal water.
Events take centre stage on the rooftop each evening when the rooftop pool is lit up. At special events, such as the launch of the hotel one might find synchronised swimmers performing acrobatics at night and wonderful singers and DJs to party the night away at Joia. After all that dancing a comfy bed awaits to rock you into a peaceful slumber. There is also a gym to enjoy a full workout to work off the calories from breakfast or a relaxing steam room and sauna to extract the toxins from the night before.
A stay at the Art’otel is invigorating. One is inspired by its creative corners containing wonderful artefacts and the history of the area as well as the canvases on the walls. It is a place you can leave feeling refreshed and inspired and ready to seize the day ahead. It is a wonderful place for families with so much to see and do and great connections to the capital’s museums, The West End and London attractions. To reach the hotel you can take the Northern Line, changing at Kennington. The journey times to the West End and the City take approximately 15 minutes.
