How can this small hippie hotel represent Isa Design Hotel of the minority?

Today, when everything is talking about Life style, what the hotel offers is not only a room and a good night's sleep, but also a provider of endless fun and innovation. Unlike those star-rated hotel chains that we are familiar with, today we are going to talk about Isa Design Hotel Ace Hotel, which not only has infinitely good design and excellent service, but also contains endless life inspiration.

After sweeping all lifestyle magazines and websites in Seattle, Portland, New York, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, London, Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Chicago, ACE HOTEL set its sights on Kyoto, Japan, designed by the famous Kengo Kuma.

Not long ago, Ace Hotel Kyoto's official Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all published this "letter from Kyoto" simultaneously.

In terms of scale, ACE HOTEL, which started in Seattle in 1999, can only be regarded as a "teenager" in a hotel. This "teenager" has more than 150,000 followers on Instagram because of his good looks and cool attitude. The famous "Monocle" magazine has mentioned its name dozens of times. The New York Times has chosen it as the most original hotel in the United States.

The man who created all this is the soul of ACE HOTEL, the late founder Alex Calderwood.

Alex Calderwood

Alex Calderwood, who once sold records and owned a vintage barber shop, was a hippie. He liked to linger in nightclubs and cool pubs on the street, and his mind always shone with creativity. At that time, his definition of ACE HOTEL was

"

Hippie and romantic.

Never distinguish guests by money

It is distinguished by taste.

"

Today's ACE HOTEL is not just a place to provide accommodation, but a public hub for sharing cocktails, coffee, art and music performances, as well as a medium between cities and creative people.

In late 2013, 47-year-old Alex Calderwood died of a drug overdose and alcoholism in Ace Hotel, Shoreditch, London. The ACE HOTEL myth started by him did not come to an end, but continued his spirit and opened several popular new stores one after another. Now that the Kyoto branch is on its way to Asia, we would also like to take this opportunity to find out what kind of magic lies behind this hotel, which is so popular with all creative people, editors, artists and lifestyle media.

Renovate landmark old buildings

The story of ACE HOTEL's "old building renovation" began in 1999 when Alex Calderwood and two friends turned a homeless home in Seattle into an affordable community hotel for as little as $50 a night.

Seattle store

The former site of ACE HOTEL's first Seattle store

In the past 20 years, every ACE HOTEL has been transformed from a historic old building.

ACE's best game is "Old elements, New combinations"-combining the historical sense of old buildings with local customs and customs with contemporary industrial design.

What ACE HOTEL's Seattle store looks like now.

Los Angeles store

Different from the kind of drastic and revamped transformation, ACE HOTEL often deliberately retains the structural characteristics and style of the original building, and then carries on the appropriate "modification" on the basis.

In Los Angeles, ACE renovated and renovated the Broadway United Artist Theater, which was built in 1927.

Church-like artists United Theatre and Office Building

After the transformation, the ACE HOTEL completely preserved the gorgeous details of that year, and became a new building that can witness the original Broadway style.

The romantic swimming pool area also holds DJ Party and yoga classes from time to time.

The legendary United Artist Theatre in the building, with 1600 seats, was inspired by Spanish Gothic palaces and churches and brought together silent film tycoons such as Chaplin, but then had operational difficulties for a long time. After the transformation of ACE, it took on a new lease of life.

United Artist Theater

After the transformation of ACE, the name of the theatre is The Theatre at Ace, and it performs art, film, dance and other literary programs irregularly.

Modified The Theatre at Ace

The interior of the church style is full of exotic flavor.

Chicago store

In 2017, the ACE HOTEL Chicago store opened in the historic West Loop district, an industrial-style building made of brick and glass that originally belonged to Fulton Market Cheese.

ACE HOTEL Chicago store, preserving the retro facade of the cheese company.

After moving to the United States, Germany's Bauhaus College founded the new Bauhaus in Chicago, so the ACE HOTEL Chicago store is designed to "pay homage to the city's Bauhaus architectural history".

The modern Bauhaus style furniture design is the most important feature of this store.

In addition, each room is equipped with unique works of art by students of the Chicago Institute of Art, as well as a series of works by the Volume Gallery in Chicago, which combines the local architectural and artistic features.

Polished steel furniture and floor tiles echo the spirit of Bauhaus.

Capital store

The Kyoto store, which will open in 2019, will be renovated by master Kengo Kuma to transform the old Kyoto Central telephone Bureau.

He hopes that in the future, it will not only be a hotel with Kyoto characteristics, but also a new cultural center of Kyoto.

The former site of the Kyoto Central telephone Bureau before the renovation

There are many old qualified Kyoto shops around the former site of the Central telephone Bureau. Japanese and fruit stores Guimo Hiroshi, Matsuko Hall, Miyagi Fan nunnery and other time-honored shops are all open here. ACE HOTEL is only part of the whole design, and ACE headquarters also plans to plan a new building next to the atrium to open up a commercial space for the surrounding traditional old stores.

Now, the ACE HOTEL capital store has released architectural drawings, and Kengo Kuma has transformed the former site of the Kyoto Central telephone Bureau, the Xinfeng Hall, into a courtyard surrounding the bungalow.

The ACE HOTEL Capital Store, which is about to open, is also a blend of the new and the old.

When it opens in 2019, the basement of the ACE HOTEL will also be connected to the Metro Umaru Yuchi Station, with convenient transportation and local culture. It is believed that this will become the top place in the minds of fashionable travelers.

Splendid anti-standardization design

Alex Calderwood once said: "every ACE HOTEL should be integrated into the local culture, not parachuted into a foreign, out-of-place new hotel."

His guidelines led ACE HOTEL to redefine the concept of Isa Design Hotel-since its opening in Seattle in 1999, they have abandoned the same "logo" and replaced it with a different design for each store and room.

Portland store

The "HOTEL" sign of ACE HOTEL's Portland store is prominently placed by the wooden wall.

Stepping into ACE HOTEL's Portland store is like stepping into an old movie. All the seemingly casual light industrial style decoration is the best interpretation of "easy chic".

The old leather sofas and graffiti art not only attract travelers from all over the world, but also attract local young artists from Portland to socialize here for coffee.

New Orleans store

ACE HOTEL in the warehouse district of New Orleans

ACE HOTEL, New Orleans, transformed an old furniture store. The design of the whole hotel is inspired by the art decoration style of the building itself, of which 234 rooms are equipped with custom art paintings and furniture, while the main colors of gray and blue also create a low-key artistic and cultural atmosphere.

The store also hides a special gospel for cocktail lovers: each room has the necessary shakers, clipboards and recipes, giving guests the opportunity to make their own cocktails.

In addition, the hotel also has a jazz bar where guests can enjoy a leisurely trip with old furniture and jazz.

A refreshing jazz bar for tourists

ACE HOTEL, which wins with details, makes creative people, writers and editors all over the world become its fans, and even the founder of "Monocle" and the editor-in-chief of "KINFOLK" are its regular guests. Brands that focus on quality of life are also scrambling to open pop-up stores in hotels, where Japanese trend brand BEAMS, British independent magazine Cereal and lifestyle fashion magazine PORTER have all come here to "smoke powder".

Crazy marriage circle of friends

In 2007, ACE HOTEL set up design studio Atelier Ace, which not only continued to enhance the architecture and interior design of its own hotel, but also opened a large wave of creative brand co-names: from A.P.C, Wings + Horns, BEAMS, Vans, Hender Scheme to SMEG, Impossible Project, Traveler's Notebook, Moscot …... It uses a hippie attitude and a good aesthetic to create a "news bomb" across the border with a number of design brands.

Like the receptionist of an ACE HOTEL London store in a small design store

ACE HOTE X Tokyobike

Tokyobike, a Japanese bicycle manufacturer that has been providing bicycle rental services for ACE HOTEL London stores, has partnered with ACE HOTEL to sell a city bike. Ichiro Kanai, the founder of Tokyobike, used his inspiration when he lived in ACE HOTEL in London as the source of his design, combining the colors of London ACE HOTEL with the product to create trendy bikes in four different colors.

Each co-branded bicycle is equipped with leather handles and seats with excellent texture.

ACE HOTE X The Impossible Project

Lady Gaga served as artistic director from the The Impossible Project team and ACE HOTEL jointly launched the customized Polaroid new machine "Impossible x Ace Hotel", the stylish and simple black body, with white SMILE words and PX 600 Silver Shade black and white negatives, showing the emotion of the old photos.

While launching the new phone, they also invited the most popular KOL in the United States at that time to shoot memories in ACE HOTEL with cameras and held a photo exhibition called "24 hours at the Ace."

Exhibitors of "24 hours at the Ace"

ACE HOTE X Hender Scheme

The Hender Scheme and ACE HOTE slippers, a niche footwear brand run by Japanese designer Bazaki Ryo Kashiwazaki, are hand-made from uncut leather. The simple, high-quality design allows many travelers to buy them home immediately after they are worn by the hotel.

Slippers jointly signed by Hender Scheme and Ace Hotel, in different models for men and women

ACE HOTEL X MIDORI

MIDORI, Japan's top living stationery brand, has added ACE HOTEL's Logo on the back of its most classic TRAVELER "S Notebook cowhide book, along with a dark green linen bag for literature and art. this notebook is not only available for sale in ACE HOTEL London stores, but also available at MIDORI headquarters in Tokyo.

ACE HOTEL X VANS

The theme of ACE HOTEL's partnership with street sports brand VANS is, of course, to sell shoes-a limited edition sneaker that goes on sale exclusively at the opening of the ACE HOTEL Los Angeles store. In this cooperation, they were surprised to find that all the customers who came specially to buy this cross-border cooperative shoe were basically potential customers of ACE HOTEL.

The shoes designed by Vans for ACE HOTEL are a little less on the street and a little more artistic.

ACE HOTEL X Wings + Horns

ACE HOTEL partnered with North American Chao brand Wings + Horns to incorporate old-fashioned boxing robe details into the hotel's boring white standard bathrobe, one of the most popular co-branded products in Ace stores. In addition, ACE HOTEL encourages guests to wear it as a coat.

A bathrobe inspired by a boxing cloak, placed in a hotel room in ACE HOTEL New York.

ACE HOTEL X PEARL+

PEARL+, which claims to be the best soap in the world, has created a series of soaps for Ace Hotel, which are produced in small quantities at a workshop in Portland, Oregon, USA.

PEARL+ 's moisturizing soap extracts saponified oil from olives, coconuts, palms, rice bran, shea butter, rosemary, etc., together with natural pearl powder to exfoliate, with a natural and unique flavor.

Good taste in packaging design is also an important factor for passengers to buy it home after using it.

In addition, ACE HOTEL will not ignore the fashionable attitude of pets, these "wearable Dog Manifesto" (dog tags) can now be bought in the store on ACE HOTEL's official website, "Ball is life ball is my life!" , "I'm already sorry, I have apologized". Every dog sign is the "inner play" of the dog star people.

Finally, there is another secret to ACE HOTEL's success-unparalleled service.

People usually don't expect much service from Isa Design Hotel compared with luxury five-star hotels, but ACE HOTEL subverts the perception of such niche hotels with the best service.

There is no shortage of warmth in its literary atmosphere, all the necessities of life you want are readily available, and the waiters here always care for the residents who have just experienced a tired journey like family members.

It is probably an endless stream of ideas, bold aesthetics and "people still want to live" intimate service that make it an excellent benchmark in Isa Design Hotel.