Elite Hotel Mimer

What makes a visitor feel relaxed and welcome when checking in at a hotel? A good feeling, of course. For most guests, it’s not about experiencing breath-taking new architecture or sleeping amid cutting-edge design, as lovely as that may be. It’s about spending time with family, visiting a fascinating destination or perhaps getting some rest before an important client meeting. This was the starting point for Tengbom’s interior design at the Elite Hotel Mimer in Umeå.

The guest’s needs first

“Neither we nor Elite Hotel wanted it to feel strained. We didn’t want anything gimmicky or like something you’d find at theme park. We wanted to make a place to come back to. As an architect, one often tends to think that a strongly conceptual-driven interior is important, but after working with many hotels, I’ve learned that the interior design is just a small part of the experience. It’s a good lesson, reminding us that we architects aren’t the most important ones here – the guests are. And for the guest, a large TV may just be more important than a fluffy bedspread”, says Magnus Lindgren.

 As an architect, one often tends to think that a strongly conceptual-driven interior is important, but after working with many hotels, I’ve learned that the interior design is just a small part of the experience.

– Magnus Lindgren, Architect SIR/MSA

A concept you sense, rather than an overwhelming theme

Of course, concept is not completely unimportant. The neo-Gothic brick building, which previously served as a grammar school, provided a natural source of inspiration for the interior design. It is large and stately, boasting high ceilings and no shortage of lovely windows. The walls in the corridors and stairwells already had a charming limestone finish.

“It’s a gorgeous building and we knew instantly that its history as a former school would be our starting point. But we didn’t want to make it too obvious. No one’s going to walk into one of the rooms and say: “Wow! This looks like an old school!” Because it doesn’t; it looks like a regular hotel room with a soft bedspread, a few puffy pillows and a nice wooden cabinet, but somewhere there’s a feeling in it.”

And that’s how the interior design team around Magnus Lindgren prefers to work. The process is based on a concept, but the idea is that in the end it should have a cohesive feel and a certain sense of calm. If a visitor knows that the headboards were selected with a nod to the building’s history, or that the cabinets where you hang your clothes are designed to resemble an old-school locker – well, that’s a bonus, but not necessarily valuable in its own right.

“We try to work very conceptually. We don’t just go for ‘pretty’ or ‘brown and leather’. Of course it should look pretty, but things don’t usually work out very well if you don’t have a conceptual place to land. Even if visitors aren’t always thinking about it, they can feel it. If there’s a concept, an idea and a wholeness behind it, the space is a more pleasant place to be,” Magnus says.

And by all accounts, guests at this usually sold-out hotel seem to agree.