NewActon is Canberra’s innovative cultural precinct and an emerging hub of design, creativity and originality. At the heart lies the Hotel Hotel, a self-described collaboration between designers, artists, artisans and fantasists. Hotel Hotel is the first hotel project by the Molonglo Group. 

Nestled by the lake and close to the bush, the hotel resides in the striking Nishi Building, which won International Project of the Year at the 2015 Building Awards in London. 

Each of the hotel’s 68 rooms is unique and reflects a love for “the well made, the curious and the comfortable”. Half of the rooms look out onto the road and the lake or bush beyond and half look into the internal atrium populated with tree ferns salvaged from Tasmanian forests destined for clearance.

The interiors highlight the hotel’s sustainability credentials. Beds are made from reclaimed oak, while the walls are a mix of concrete, cork, earthen clay, and natural fibre wallpapers, in a “reimagining of the textures and layers of an Australian shack and landscape”. Finishing touches include Aesop amenities and heated bathroom floors.  

Apartments are also available separately within the Nishi Building, utilising passive cooling and hydronic heating. The Molonglo Group says “Our intention for the apartments is that people occupy them. That they bring those items that make them feel at home even though they are on the road; that they domesticate the space the way they like it. We call these apartments Hotel Home.”

Hotel Hotel’s Monster Salon and Dining rooms are a domestic space, described as “a reinterpretation of the suburban family rooms of immigrants in Australia post WWII”. 

The kitchen and bar spreads across four separate spaces on the ground floor and is open between 6.30AM and 1AM every day, with a seasonal menu.

Hotel Hotel also runs a series of workshops and talks called Fix and Make. The 2016 program brought together more than 60 collaborators to lead workshops and contribute to discussions from fields as diverse as neuroscience, art, design and craft, food, education, music, psychology and the environment.

Bookings and events can be found at www.hotel-hotel.com.au