Sitting pretty

The fact that Tamburlaine, the new luxury hotel that opened its doors in Cambridge in March, is named after a Persian emperor in one of dramatist and Cambridge alumnus Christopher Marlowe’s 16th-century plays is enough to give it a sense of place in the university city. But add to this rooms distinguished by academic terms – Fresher, Scholar and Dean – instead of size, a well-stocked library and a pastel-and-floral-drenched Garden Room, and it couldn’t be more Cambridge if it tried.

The layered references play, and the five public spaces in the hotel each reflect a different feeling through the use of colour and texture. For example, in the Garden Room the inspiration was a Persian botanical oasis, whilst the library is more rooted in traditional Cambridge, with its dark timber panelling.”