Urban Hive Milano, a hotel embellished with color and design

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Urban Hive Milano, photo Paolo Valentini

The restyling of the historic Carlyle Brera has created a 4-star hotel with an informal mood, combining business and leisure, coworking areas and lounge bars. The project is designed Vudafieri Saverino Partners

Recently opened in the heart of Milan is a new destination for hospitality. Urban Hive - part of Hively Hospitality group numbering 80 hotels in 6 countries - is a 4-star hotel just right for a public of travelers looking for authentic Milanese atmospheres. Yet it is also a multifunctional space where visitors can revel in experiential indulgences. The goal? To restore the bond between hotel and city, in a relationship of continuous exchange with the life of the neighborhood.

Urban Hive, contract, salone milano — Urban Hive Milano, photo Paolo Valentini

We’re in Corso Garibaldi, the heart of the Brera quarter, with its historic, intellectual and creative heritage, its cafes and bistros, cinemas and theaters, hidden courtyards and artists’ shops. This is the character that inspired the soul of Urban Hive as a lifestyle structure integrated into its setting. Vudafieri Saverino Partners, a firm of Milanese architects also based in Shanghai, designed the redevelopment project for the concept, communal areas and 97 rooms and suites. The formula is reminiscent of that of open-house hotels, very common in international hospitality, which combine business and leisure, coworking areas and amenities for fitness and relaxation, creating places that are comfortable, intimate and dynamic, making visitors feel at home, a sensation heightened by the meticulous choice of furnishings. This is where well-known brands in the design world enter the field: from Arflex to Calligaris, Montbel, Pedrali, Saba, Seletti and Contardi.

The architects created the hotel’s interior design and soft decoration by reinterpreting the tradition of Milanese design in a contemporary key, quoting the city’s myths and symbols, ranging from the Madonnina on the cathedral to the Bar Basso.

On the ground floor, the lobby combines functions such as lounge bar and event venue thanks to the Portico84 Café&Bar, with a semicircular counter and Babila ashwood stools designed by Odo Fioravanti for Pedrali. The choice of furnishings evokes the atmosphere in all the communal areas, where the walls feature an elegant Peacock Blue: from the lobby on the minus 1 floor level to the mezzanine, which after breakfast turns into a coworking space. From the elegant proportions of the Elettra Armchair by Arflex, a 50s office classic designed by BBPR, to the lightness of a piece like Héra, upholstered in fabric and designed by Patrick Jouin for Pedrali. From the soft lines of the Rose 03041 lounge armchair by Edi & Paolo Ciani for Montbel, in bright vitamin colors, to the contemporary tones of dark red and purple of the Puffy padded armchairs, designed by Busetti Garuti Redaelli for Calligaris, brand also represented by the Medea armchairs with an enveloping silhouette and Tuka stools.

The New York Bergère reading armchair, by Sergio Bicego for Saba, adds a sophisticated touch, mingling with the comfortable sofas on the light-colored oak parquet, wooden bookcases, objects and vintage and pop incursions – the Lipsticks armchairs by Seletti, designed by ToiletPaper, are iconic as always – together with graphics and illustrations that make the setting warm, relaxed and cozy. In the lighting note a chic piece like the Audrey Fl, inspired by the famous hat Audrey Hepburn wore in the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, designed by Massimiliano Raggi for Contardi and found at different points in the hotel. The interiors are embellished by wallpaper depicting the architecture and icons of Milan, designed by 150UP, a creative studio that oversaw the art direction and visual identity of the project by selecting design objects, illustrated books and creating graphics for interiors, elevators and windows as well as the ceramic plates and the posters.

Achieving a particular impact is the work of redefining the 97 rooms and suites of the hotel with a refined atmosphere. Here, too, the careful study of color led to the choice of three different palettes - terracotta pink, mint green and light blue - which alternate on each floor. The dialogue between surfaces and coverings, from the headboards of the wooden beds with metal inserts to the carpet with a geometric patchwork pattern in the corridors, reflect an interior design mirroring the two souls of contemporary Milan: the world of business and that of creativity, with the Brera district as its supreme symbol.