Property Council of Australia: Determined To Be Different

The strategy succeeded, and the Vibe Hotel Canberra has bagged a number of awards, most recently the Brain & Poulter Award for Best Tourism and Leisure Development at the Property Council of Australia / Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation & Excellence Awards.

Inspired by the geometry of Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, the hotel is itself a destination. Griffin's axial design, for example, is at the heart of the dramatic full-height atrium that attracts both travellers and locals.

"As one of the first buildings visitors are likely to see when they arrive in Canberra, the hotel needed to reflect the design of the city and the history of the city," says Capital Airport Group's head of property, Richard Snow.

"This fed into the strong use of circular geometry in the building design as it is in Canberra's planning."

The gleaming glass exterior gives way to art deco inspired interiors with echoes of Frank Lloyd Wright. The opulent spaces are reminiscent of the golden ages of travel, and strengthens the airport's offering at a time when the ACT is looking to increase its direct international flights.

"As a local Canberra family-owned business, we wanted the hotel to have an identity that reflects Canberra," Snow adds.

Snow says the biggest challenge his team faced was the development's site, which was "quite constrained by the terminal to the east, the existing road infrastructure to the north and west and an existing structure to the south."

The hotel would also be the "gateway building" at the entry of the terminal precinct, which meant it needed to respond to and respect its surroundings, while also serving as a new landmark.

"The building also had to bring together the terminal precinct and the adjacent business park as a social hub to mesh the two uses."

"There had never been a hotel at Canberra Airport so the design and business model had to be different, in that it had to be a hotel that guests wanted to stay at in preference to existing hotel precincts.

"This led us to create a product of a high quality with a focus on design and guest experience."

And the biggest lesson?

"If you build a quality product, strive for excellence and challenge the market perception and you will achieve an exceptional outcome," Snow concludes.