Project Orange was invited to work on the first independent design hotel in St Petersburg in 2005. Formerly an apartment block, the hotel is housed in a nineteenth century building located within the Museum Quarter of the city. The design of the hotel marries a classical setting with contemporary interventions.

Entering the hotel the guest arrives into a spilt level staircase that leads up to the lobby and down to meeting rooms. The space is lined in glossy black panelling with a Nero Marquina and Carrara marble herringbone floor and is a showcase for quirky furniture, objets d'art and contemporary paintings.

A connection from the lobby takes guests to the restaurant, lit from above by a new glazed roof and striking, contemporary chandeliers. The walls are panelled and painted an earthy green colour providing a backdrop to the graphic but traditional handmade inlaid wood floor. The main ‘icon’ of the restaurant is an enormous light box showing a nineteenth image from The Hermitage Museum.

The bedrooms reflect the spirit of the hotel and continue the panelling detail to re-create a classical space that features a collection of furniture to designs by Project Orange. The look of the room is deliberately eclectic; an assortment of personal choices that have been gathered over time.