Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel, Bahrain

Client

Kempinski Hotels & Resorts

Project

Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel, Manama Bahrain

Located beside the Bay, just minutes from the Airport and the City Centre, the Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel is the latest luxury hotel development in Manama Bahrain. The Hotel comprises of two towers called Grand and Ixir, which together offer 460 guest rooms, including 79 suites. This 5 star hotel which opened in September 2011 was designed by Architects Woods Bagot for Kempinski Hotels and Resorts.

Challenge

Originally, a standard partition wall was specified for each hotel room to separate bedroom from bathroom however this did not meet the design brief in terms of creating a bright, spacious interior.

Solution

Architects Woods Bagot then specified a smart glass privacy screen to separate the two areas which would allow for instant privacy on demand and create a more spacious interior. LC SmartGlass combines the functionality of an opaque wall with the style and lighting of clear glass. LC SmartGlass is an easily cleaned, low energy and low maintenance material which is ideal for this application. LC SmartGlass is a class A rated safety glass conforming to BS EN 12600 and is rated to IP X7 BS EN 60529. This ensures a high level of performance in demanding surroundings such as a wet environment.

LC SmartGlass offers privacy on demand at the flick of a switch matching the criteria of the design brief entirely. Bespoke remote control systems were designed and supplied for each room.

Result

This modern design element precisely matches the image that Kempinski Hotels wish to portray; a stylish and contemporary 5 star destination hotel amongst the best in the Gulf. With glass being inherently thin, hotel designers are turning ever more toward it to save space and inject style.

This use of glass ties in with the prevailing trend of hotels pursuing clean, minimalist styles in room design. SmartGlass technology is allowing guests to have more input in the setup of the bathroom, reflecting their personal preferences.

Hotel bathroom interiors
Designers and developers are looking to the hotel bathroom as the new frontier of the guestroom experience, turning what has long been a mostly functional space into a sanctuary and means of escape. Interior designers are responding in several ways, in particular by opening up closed and cluttered bathrooms through increasing the levels of light and space.

The bathroom is now key to the guest experience with functionality fusing effortlessly with contemporary style. Hotels need to respond to recent bathroom design trends as consumer expectation continues to grow. As the world becomes smaller, hotels need to make better use of the space they have and LC SmartGlass is providing the ideal solution for this.

Testimonials

“The product is amazing and everyone is really impressed. Actually, our clients are all interested if they can have this in their home!”
Maria Zaldua, Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel, Bahrain
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