Shining from its copper-clad crown-like roof structure, Breathe Architecture’s Paramount House Hotel in Sydney brings the historical past of the warehouse base it emerges from, together with narratives of comfort, home and a sense of place.
Located in Sydney’s inner urban Surry Hills locale, Paramount House Hotel bridges old and new, industrial and hospitality and blends it all together under the veil of a cleverly geometric chevron sleeve. Referencing the context it sits upon, laden with art deco architecture, the crowning roof element is both a feature and a respectful gesture. Breathe Architecture’s famously sustainable lens showcases a respectful restoration and insightful re-invigoration of a landmark building, bringing it well into the 21st century for a new life.
Set within the bones of an existing eight-year old brick-clad warehouse, the site was also home to the offices of Paramount Picture Studios. A four-year task in the making, the hotel offers a boutique twenty-nine rooms, each unique in their placement and engagement with the existing shell complete with restored ceilings, windows and brick walls.
Terrazzo tiled bathrooms and freshly laid timber floors bring the rooms together around the atrium-style void lobby. The cohesive bringing together of old and new reveals a respectful space for an expression of each, without emphasising one over the other.
The hotel rooms all reflect an individual personality, with differing design details and indoor and outdoor experiences. The use of living greenery expresses the hotel’s appreciation for the tactile, as does the selection of locally and sustainably sourced amenities – including Seljak wool blankets, artwork by local gallery China Heights, linen bedding and Melbourne-born Aesop toiletries. The rooms vary from the Everyday and Sunny Rooms, to the Loft and two Mack Daddy suites, where space reins king. In each, Japanese timber baths are combined with an industrial and bespoke bathing experience.
Sharing its address with Poly, Golden Age Cinema, Paramount Coffee Project, The Office Space and Paramount Recreation Club, the hotel brings together an eclectic past and a curated present. Continuing its lineage as a space for makers and creativity; Breathe Architecture have cleverly expressed the old, by showcasing an honesty, rawness and thruthfulness in materiality. Paramount House Hotel is an a whole experience in itself, full of exploration and dotted with curious moments of discovery.
