When InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) asked Sue Firestone to create a model room for the Hotel Indigo brand, she knew that the project would be anything but conventional. "IHG asked us to completely reinvent the wheel, so to speak," says Firestone, founder of SFA Design in Santa Barbara, California. "The only criteria they gave us, which is at the heart of the Indigo experience, is to have a sense of calm and have everything based on the Fibonacci sequence, which you find in nature and in everything organic. We tried to think outside the box."

For the model on display at the InterContinental Barclay Hotel in Manhattan, SFA started with redesigning the way the box itself looked, utilizing curves and angles to make the room feel bigger and to change the views one would normally find in a room of the same size. The angle of the bed allows patrons to see the television and the window view. A glass partition creates a line of vision between the bathroom and bedroom, also allowing natural light to reach the bathroom, something Firestone says she rarely sees in a hotel. The result: a very functional, yet inviting, residential-inspired interior.

In terms of sustainability, most every material in the room can be labeled green. A highlight? The bathroom countertop is a composite made entirely of recycled materials (glass and shell) and designed specifically by SFA for the project. The sophisticated color scheme of green and purple is a nod to the urban location, as well as three graphic prints of manhole covers that serve as artwork, an idea that Firestone says works because the artwork can be interchanged to fit whatever city the model room is in. And design solutions throughout follow the mathematical sequence of the Golden Ratio.

Though the project is a small one, Firestone says they were able to bring big ideas. "We love having clients throw rules out the window," explains Firestone, adding that this is one of her firm’s most exciting projects this year. "I think when designers are given more free reign to do this kind of thing it’s surprising to see the result."