RSHP’s first encounter with luxury hotel group Maybourne happened 20 years ago, when the acclaimed architecture studio was approached to work with it on a new entrance for The Berkeley. It resulted in the sleek canopy, made of a series of 16 carbon fibre beams, that elegantly adorn its period-inspired façade to this day. Just next to it is The Emory, ‘London’s first all-suite hotel’, which opened in Belgravia in April and is the latest – and largest – product in the long, fruitful relationship that ensued.
RSHP partner Ivan Harbour was a key force in the project from day one, alongside the legendary practice co-founder Richard Rogers, who remained involved until his death in 2021. The Emory’s locationway it was organised. It was about making strong, rational decisions that would inform the construction process. What we created only exists because of the project’s pragmatic constraints.’
