CRÈME, a collective by Jun Aizaki, focused on authenticity for the interiors of Hyatt Centric Center City, the brand’s flagship Philadelphia location, with a design rooted in the region’s heritage. The Brooklyn-based design firm’s first full hotel project captures rich craft traditions as well as the city’s historic industrial prominence, overlaid with Aizaki’s Japanese influence.
The newly constructed, 332-room upscale lifestyle hotel has a sophisticated simplicity, with an airy, muted palette and abundance of raw wood that references the region’s past as a lumber capital. This elevated rusticity is accented with details that connect the city’s roots to its contemporary streetscape, considering the street art, mosaics, and murals that give its built environment a unique character.
The public areas feature industrial materials such as exposed concrete and blackened steel, alongside details such as stitched leather and wood paneled walls that unify the craft traditions of woodworking, metalsmithing, and leatherworking, mainstays of the cultures that shaped Philadelphia. The clean lines of a grand staircase, spanning two floors, harmonize with distinctive details in the lobby and restaurant; suspended wood spindles, custom black cage lights fabricated by Preciosa, and an art installation behind the reception desk each make references to Pennsylvania’s unique culture and topography.
The lobby’s expansive shelf display features a mix of old and new, natural and made-made, as well as wood and metal artwork, accessories, and objects curated by Fanny Allié and Yael Caffrey. Each piece works to create a loose narrative around the natural world and the cultivation of land, as an ode to the farming history of Pennsylvania.
Photo: Courtesy of CRÈME
