A shared vision: The Emory hotel lands in London

This article first appeared in Mix Interiors #232

Words: Harry McKinley
Images: courtesy The Emory

There’s an old aphorism that great things take time, to which The Emory is surely a testament. 17 years in the making, this all- suite property – occupying a prime wedge of Hyde Park-facing Belgravia – is among the capital’s most long-awaited luxury launches. Part of a ‘family’ of projects clustered around fellow Maybourne group grand dame The Berkeley, it features a stellar design cast; a roll call of the internationally influential and important.

The building itself, designed by the late Richard Rogers and Ivan Harbour of RSHP, is both a feat of engineering and an architectural marvel. Great ‘sails’ stridently slice into the London sky from the rooftop while, at lower levels, there’s an intricate combining of outdoor spaces and in: steel beams and floor- to-ceiling glass blurring the boundaries between terrace and bar, pavement and lobby. Harbour compares the project to precision watchmaking, where “the beauty of the movement is apparent and nothing is hidden.” The central staircase, visible from the entrance, is rendered in ‘Richard Rogers Pink’, an ode to the architect’s steering hand.