What does a billion dollar hotel renovation look like? So glad you asked.
Welcome to Fontainebleau Resort complex in Miami Beach. Originally designed by Morris Lapidus and built in 1954, its website proclaims:
Following a $1 billion renovation and expansion [it repoened in November 2008], Fontainebleau is a spectacular blend of Miami’s glamorous golden era and stylish modern luxury…
I’m delighted to report that Fontainebleau spent its billion thoughtfully. The resort’s interior design pays subtle tribute to Miami’s Art Deco past, celebrates Miami Vice’s neon-tinged 80s, and looks to the future with its liberal use of gold and other luxury materials.
The Fontainebleau’s famed “Staircase to Nowhere” has been preserved. In the 50s and 60s, fancy-pants couples would take an elevator to the top of the stairs, and then descend in grand glittery style for the other guests.
That bow-tie pattern on the floor is the original design, by the way, recreated with new materials.
These golden crystal chandeliers reminded my husband of those in the Kennedy Center.
Terazzo floors are quintessential Art Deco. Fontainebleau’s contemporary layouts and chunkier blends re-interpret the material for the 21st century.
No true Miami institution would be complete without a reference to 80s style. The “Bleau Bar” has an intense blue floor lit from below, and the ceiling is slashed with yellow arcs of light – it’s galaxy-like. The lit column in the center of the bar changes from fuschia to white and back again.
As in the Bleau Bar, throughout all the public spaces there is a generous use of gold, a trend on the rise. The columns in the Bleau Bar are wrapped in 1 x 2″ mini-brick tile with a gold cast. Columns in other public spaces are slightly more subtle, covered with simpler 1 x 1″ glass mosaic tiles.
Interestingly enough, Emily Backus had an article in this weekend’s Financial Times about the “counterintuitive trend” of using gold and other luxury materials in interior design.
That’s all well and good for a major resort with a corporate budget, but whom will this trend affect on the residential level?
The tile manufacturer Bisazza has the answer, citing, “a general tendency away from minimalism towards decoration as well as the emergence of wealthy, fashion-conscious female consumers, aged 25 to 50 who is immune to the credit crunch.” They say:
We feel our customer is this certain woman who may buy Gucci for her wardrobe today and decide to redo her bathroom tomorrow.
Hm. Could you please be more specific?
