French architectural practice, AW², run by Reda Amalou and Stéphanie Ledoux, has completed Moxy Sophia Antipolis, a new lifestyle hotel for business and leisure travellers in the French ‘Silicon Valley’.
Developed by the European real estate group, Vastint, and operated by Hotel Co 51, Moxy Sophia Antipolis is the sixth hotel under Marriott Bonvoy’s Moxy brand to be opened in France and one of the few Moxy Hotels that features an outdoor swimming pool in Europe. Engineers Sato et Associés accompanied AW² in the development of the design.
Located in Sophia Antipolis, commonly known as the ‘Silicon Valley of Europe’, this lifestyle hotel offers 179 rooms across 5,200 square metres. Designed as an accessible hotel for burgeoning start-up companies and entrepreneurs looking to network in the Mediterranean French Riviera, Moxy Sophia Antipolis is located 20 minutes inland from the Mediterranean Sea, halfway between Nice and Cannes in the South of France.
The LEED Gold-certified building is strategically positioned to offer views over the mountains and the surrounding forest. The rooms are displayed across three upper levels and sit on a concrete and glass ground floor base that makes the building appear to float and merge with the surrounding vegetation.
The façade is made from aluminium cladding that creates different shades and reflections throughout the day. AW² designed a geometric pattern that breaks the regularity of the standard window panels and draws on a colour palette inspired from the site, ranging from greens to blues. At night, a lighting system provides depth to the façade and creates a playful constellation of light and reflection.
AW² modernised the traditional restanque terracing system, a regional construction method used across the south of France to manage the inclining topography of the site, regulate the rainwater run-off and create a buffer zone between the hotel and the urban environment at Sophia Antipolis. These landscaped terraces also privilege the growth of local vegetation and provide privacy to the outdoor swimming pool and relaxation area.
The hotel’s lively public areas have been designed with a modern minimal style and aim to increase interaction among guests, providing networking booths, co-working spaces, shared meeting rooms and outdoor landscaped areas to foster collaboration.The interior design, developed by APTO Architects, nods to the region’s technology park through its modern and minimalist style while nautical-themed graffiti displays by internationally renowned artists connect the hotel to its proximity to the coast.
“Moxy Sophia Antipolis is an important milestone for AW2 as it is our first hotel to be completed in France and the first of our ongoing collaboration with Marriott International and Vastint which we are proud to see come to fruition,” says Reda Amalou & Stéphanie Ledoux, Partners at AW².
