'Like an art installation': The hotel paying tribute to the glamour of the art deco era

The golden age of cinema is honoured at this boutique hotel, nestled in one of Australia’s most colourful and richly historic suburbs.

Situated in Surry Hills on the cusp of Sydney’s central business district, the Paramount House Hotel occupies the former warehouse and offices of Paramount Picture Studios.

The entrance and lobby of the hotel are located in the heritage-listed Paramount House building, which also includes a co-working space, a cafe and the iconic Golden Age cinema.

The adjacent Paramount Picture Studios building, a former film-storage warehouse, holds the hotel’s 29 rooms and restaurant.

Wrapped around the top is a two-storey extension with a facade of individually folded copper sheet tiles fixed to a stainless steel screen.

Bonnie Herring of Melbourne-based Breathe Architecture, lead architect on the project, says the exterior draws inspiration from the distinctive architecture of the area.

“Surry Hills is home to these amazing, fine-grained terraces that overhang and extend into the street with greenery and balconies,” Herring explains.

“In the hotel, we’ve overlaid this tapered, wedge-shaped site with the roof extension, taking a nod to how terraces interact with the street.”

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Inside, the hotel pays tribute to the glamour of the art deco era, with palm trees, geometric patterns (including a continuation of the chevron motif introduced in the roof extension), metallic elements and terrazzo flooring.

The interior sits like an art installation on top of the existing building, with original features such as the brickwork and timber beams left exposed.

“The project does hark back to that golden era of film, and the architecture of the time.

“It’s very much embedded in the detailing of those buildings,” says Herring.

“It contrasts with the warehouse, which, at its heart, is brick, concrete and stone. It’s this very robust artefact, if you will, that we’re overlaying with ornament.”

The project has a strong focus on sustainability, in-keeping with the hotel’s stated goal of becoming Australia’s first zero-waste accommodation.

Herring retained as much of the existing building as possible, she says, and, where new materials were required, there was a focus on recycled timber, concrete and recyclable steel.

Unlike most hotels, the rooms have windows that guests can open and close, providing a source of passive temperature regulation, while the overall design is calculated to provide shade from the northern sun.