Blues Point Hotel in Sydney, Hotel McMahons Point, NSW Accommodation Building, Australia Architect

Blues Point Hotel Sydney, NSW

McMahons Point Accommodation Building in New South Wales design by Carter Williamson Architects

Design: Carter Williamson Architects

Location: NSW, Australia

Address: 116 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point NSW 2060, Australia

Phone: +61 2 9955 2675

5 Jan 2015

Blues Point Hotel in Sydney

The design of an outdoor terrace for the Blues Point Hotel needed to respond to the needs of the hotel while meeting several other objectives; to provide an outdoor area that was enjoyable to be in, would successfully appease increasingly conservative and hostile set of neighbours by keeping the noise down and maintaining privacy, whilst providing control of the hotels patrons to ensure they weren’t smoking or talking loudly on the footpaths at night.

The strategy was to use a redundant outside garden, which sat one level below the public internal spaces of the pub, for a terrace that would meet the reworked internal spaces. By relocating the kitchen and the storage areas, the rooms with the most access to natural light and views of the harbour were given back to the patrons as dining and lounge spaces. The deck unifies these internal spaces by infilling the original L shaped plan and meeting the interior at floor level, giving the sense that the hotel has doubled in size.

The curvilinear form allowed the deck to hold the lines of the hotel and adjacent buildings, meander around a landmark 30m tall Norfolk Pine, and to deflect and absorb noise, while responding in part to the wonderful curves in the art deco form of the existing hotel. The choice of from, materials, colours and window profiles were important to differentiate the new from the old.

The hard and cold external skin hides and secludes the patrons from the neighbours, while the internal skin offers patrons a warm and inviting outdoor space. The walls were designed to live in, to embrace the patrons and provide spaces for varying degrees of social interaction; from open, exposed moments to private and secreted nooks. Windows punch slender holes in the tall walls to embrace the view only, blinkering patrons from the neighbours gardens.

The playfulness of the deck adds to the relaxing experience of a lunch or a few quite drinks on a sunny afternoon, or a night out with friends. By opening up the best rooms and giving them back to the hotel, and inviting these spaces to share in the joy of the deck, the hotel in an instant feels familiar yet infinitely bigger.

A testament to the success of the design is a 20-30% increase in business in a time when hotels are experiencing a 20-30% decline in business. However, for Carter Williamson Architects, perhaps the most important success is that the liberated rooms are the first rooms patrons head for, and the way the deck comes alive when they venture outdoors.

Photography: Brett Boardman

Blues Point Hotel in Sydney images / information from Carter Williamson Architects

Location: 116 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point NSW 2060, Australia

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