Since its founding in 1999, the Ace Hotel Group has been at the vanguard of the boutique hotel craze. By striking an intentional, tasteful balance between vernacular charm and cosmopolitan creature comforts, Ace Hotels (and their emerging competitors, such as Marriott Bonvoy’s Design Hotels) have become the hospitality standard for the globe-trotting creative class. Now, with new consolidated ownership and nearly 30 years of trend-setting experience to bolster their brand, Ace has ventured south of the equator for the very first time.
Opened in 2021 and located in Sydney’s Surry Hills neighborhood, Ace Hotel Sydney calls a 20th-century brick factory and warehouse (née Tyne House) home. Built in 1915 and inspired by the Chicago School’s early skyscrapers, the 10-story tower has now been joined by an 18-story addition and boasts 257 hotel rooms in total. Bates Smart Architects led the refurbishment of the warehouse and the construction of the addition, with Flack Studio tackling the art curation and interior styling: earthy colors and textures evocative of Australia’s landscape, bulbous lighting, and indulgently upholstered furnishings.
Crowning the hotel is KILN, Ace Hotel Sydney’s rooftop restaurant and bar, which opened in October. A refined eclecticism defines the menu—Italian, Japanese, and Southeast Asian dishes made with Australian ingredients and an outback sensibility—and the design. Spearheaded by Fiona Lynch Office (FLO), KILN offers “an Australian take on what an Ace Hotel could be, reflecting Australia’s culture, colors and design language,” explained founder Fiona Lynch. “Our approach when designing hospitality projects is a tangible expression of elements: people, place, and provenance. We aim to create an ambience that transcends a space, so understanding a brand’s DNA is important.”
FLO approached integrating Ace’s alchemical design philosophy with Australia’s distinct natural landscape by focusing on color and materials, almost all of which were locally sourced. Across the restaurant’s two dining areas and bars, lounge, and terrace dining areas, a mixture of bold-but-earthy hues call to mind the colors of the continent’s natural totality. “We looked to the filtered hues of Australian red and brown earth, the greens of native gum trees and grasses, and the luminescent blue of our southern sky for inspiration,” says Lynch. “These are represented in the khaki greens and reds seen in the stone and fabrics, the rawness of the timbers, and the striking blue resin wall that greets guests in the restaurant lobby.”
That spirit of locality is carried through even into the textiles that adorn the restaurant’s walls. By salvaging materials from Tyne House’s renovation, crushing them into a pigment, and then hand-painting Belgian linen with these ultra-vernacular colors, FLO, in collaboration with Spacecraft Studio, created a uniquely Ace-Australian take on terrazzo, the oh-so-chic material that assures people-in-the-know that they are indeed somewhere quite fancy.
Lest the down under vibe become too overbearing, FLO made sure to specify furnishings that are en vogue and timeless. Specifically referencing Frank Lloyd Wright, KILN’s seating is boxy and low to the ground. Its lighting evokes Isamu Noguchi’s rounded but discrete illumination, while the bar and backbar shelving looks to Donald Judd’s rectilinear metallic art pieces.
“[Ace Hotel Sydney’s] desire was for KILN to feel distinctly different to other spaces within the hotel, and the result has captured this desire in an original, beautifully resolved way,” said Lynch.