The lift shaft is glass walled and the lift becomes a feature of the restaurant. It shouldn't have worked visually, but did, perhaps its exposed mechanism being absorbed by the strong mechanical feel of the black and white floor tiling.

The predominant colour scheme throughout the hotel was black, white and red, with a dash of grey in the red carpet and leather upholsteries balancing this out. The strong black and white chequered floor of the restaurant worked well with the plaster of the older buildings where it occupies a space that is a mix of undercroft and glassed in courtyard. The restaurant also spilled out into the terrace between the old and new buildings, an area insulated from the noise of the surrounding city to provide a peaceful enclave for diners or drinkers, especially popular at breakfast.

The dining area was able to cope with an unpredictable flow of guests, where one night produced only half a dozen diners whilst the second produced a full restaurant and overstressed staff. Of course this may have to do with the quality of the pianist on the first night, who played everything fortissimo, the plaster walls amplifying the piano sound giving uncomfortable proof that hard surfaces in a restaurant do help to create a busy clatter, or sometimes so much reflected noise as to be almost uncomfortable at times, and make conversation difficult.

Facing one way towards the bar with strong sculpture and painting managing to co-exist with strong carpet and layout - rollover to see the more restrained bar area

The building has an eclectic mix of art, with commissioned pieces permanent fixtures in the modern building whilst the traditional form at the rear contains a changing exhibition with its own small gallery space to complement it. For once the quality of the art in both areas was high – too much art in hotels these days is picked on cost resulting in meaningless pastiches chosen because they go with the colour scheme. The large butterfly painting in the restaurant shows the work here as being of a different and higher quality. Unfortunately the handwriting of the artist had been extended to the graphics – they had the feel of all being hand made, which would have been fine had it been carried through consistently, but gaps had been filled typographically leaving an uncomfortable mismatch in areas.

The reception space and bar ran one into another in a large rectangular area. The space had been skilfully handled however, with changes in levels breaking it up, and maximum impact being given to the large picture windows looking out of the front of the hotel. Again art, and mixture of large paintings and sculpture, had been skilfully chosen and sized to maximise impact whilst balancing so as not to overwhelm the space. The views did not compete and the sensitive siting of the work meant it could be seen and enjoyed for itself whilst still contributing to the overall effect of the interior design.