With the doors now open, The Londoner Hotel and Odeon Theatre venue is an epic and audacious masterplan of interconnecting volumes, spaces, shafts of light and a totally enthralling guest journey. Connecting the internal volumes, a major light shaft and stair configuration figuratively brings light from the roof top, down past the guest rooms, through the ground floor arrival all the way down to the basement wellness centre.

A site that originally housed a stage theatre in 1930, the building has undergone several iterations to form the 350-room hotel. Complemented by two underground Odeon cinemas, six restaurants and bars, a spa and wellness facility, conference, and meeting rooms and one of London’s largest event spaces, spanning 6 basement levels, 3 ground floor levels and 9 levels above ground.

This building will not only reinforce Westminster’s ‘City for All’ plan but manages to hold its own against one of its most famous neighbours, The National Gallery.

Nik Karalis, CEO at Woods Bagot, comments: “The unveiling of a landmark new hotel during a pandemic is in itself befitting of a legendary West End story. Ten years ago, when Woods Bagot first conceived the lyrical narrative of this project, the metaphor of thespianism in the West End was used to define the various episodes, actors, sets and plot twists for the Edwardian Hotel Group’s latest venture.

“The team – from all four corners of our global studio – has worked together to bring concepts of fictitious performances, an urban sanctuary, accessible luxury and escapism to life. This is now a place where the guest can pretend to be a Londoner for a day, no matter where in the world they were coming from.

“Just as the world re-emerges from its lockdown slumber, the same themes are even more relevant, acerbated and providing a tonic for restoring spirits.”

Throughout the process, there have been numerous contributors to this project; Rob Steul, the Edwardian’s creative director, Jasminder Singh, Founder of the Edwardian Hotel Group, Krishma Singh Dear, Head of Design at Edwardian Hotel Group, Avroko and Yabu Pulshelberg, the interior designers, Arup and BlueSky Building, amongst many other critical participants. A project such as this is an orchestration of major proportion and requires incredible perseverance to see every detail through to its completion.