A new flagship hotel with interior design by Conran and Partners for Polish hotel group, PURO, has opened in Kraków. The 228-room hotel – which occupies a corner site in Halicka Street, Kazimierz, the city’s former Jewish quarter – provides a destination and curated experiences for local residents as much as for tourist and business guests.

Conran and Partners’ design concept for the Kraków Kazimierz Hotel is ‘Bohemian Modern’.
This approach represents a fusion between the energy, history, authenticity and art culture of the location (‘Bohemian’) and the dynamic, progressive brand principles of PURO, demonstrating the brand’s passion for contemporary art, design-led furniture and forward-looking hospitality Modern’). This conceptual narrative has provided a rich source of inspiration for the creation of a unique PURO hotel which is firmly grounded in its location.

The design clearly references elements of the area’s history, including its once-bustling industrial heritage, while still achieving a strong residential feel. This has resulted in a welcoming hotel, designed to encourage guests to inhabit the ground floor spaces, morning, noon and night. The café, restaurant and bar incorporate indoor and outdoor areas with private ‘pockets’ of space where guests can enjoy PURO’s hospitality. On entering PURO Kraków Kazimierz, guests are welcomed by a bespoke reception desk, with the lobby floor showing an etched outline of Kazimierz quarter street pattern.

The wall behind the reception area features a bold graffiti art installation by Polish artist ‘Nawer’ and is a taster of the wider artwork collection which is to be found throughout the hotel. PURO Kraków Kazimierz incorporates the MAK bakery and café at ground floor level which connects directly with the street frontage. MAK offers freshly-baked bread, pastries, and cakes, including traditional cheesecake and poppy seed bread. The space has a sunken lounge, open fire and sharing table. The hotel also incorporates the Halicka restaurant, offering diners a menu of dishes using locally sourced ingredients, and an independently-run, destination cocktail bar.

The overall palette mixes natural, raw materials such as terracotta, faded bronze and reclaimed timber with bold splashes of color balanced with the black-and-white layered tones of the PURO brand. A base palette runs throughout the hotel which has been adapted to give a defined personality and character to each of the key spaces. The approach seeks to draw upon the various historical and cultural layers of Kazimierz – including the area’s former warehouses and workshops as well as its more recently-acquired galleries and street art – which have combined to bring a ‘decayed charm’ to one of city’s most attractive quarters to live and work in.

Guestrooms are flooded with natural light via full-height windows, each incorporating a generous shower area. An etched, grooved, fluted glass screen physically separates the shower from the bedroom while allowing light and abstracted views through. The beds are backed by bespoke, woven headboards and covered by specially-designed throws referencing one of Conran and Partners’ early concept sketches for the hotel.

Other key features include:
– A wellness and fitness facility, ‘PRISMA’, offering an ‘Urban Spa’ with gym, sauna, steam, beauty stations, treatment rooms, and generous relaxation area
– Events and Function area, ‘The Workshop’, comprising of four meeting rooms which can be configured in various ways from a series of individual spaces to a single space accommodating up to one hundred guests for meetings or events
– Four room types: Standard; Deluxe; Suite; and Apartment. The design seeks to bring a ‘relaxed, residential feel’ to all rooms in the hotel
– An atrium and other public-facing areas which incorporate design references to the plants and foliage which typically overhang the old walls of the Kazimierz district and visually reinforce the hotel’s links with its location

Artwork curation was undertaken by PURO while Conran and Partners styled ‘The Workshop’ as part of a collaborative design approach. Polish street artists and local artists were commissioned to showcase their paintings as part of the room designs, as well as in the reception and bar areas.