About the house
A house that was never meant for guests
NOIR House stands on a quay in Bruges, or would, if it stood anywhere. We imagined it completely: who built it, what they stored in the attic, and why the floors slope towards the water.
Cloth, then coal, then nothing for a while
The story goes like this. A cloth merchant built on the quay in 1740, with a counting room on the corner, stables at the back and an attic long enough to hang a season’s stock. Then came a coal dealer, a school for a while, and from the 1970s a set of offices that dropped the ceilings and painted the panelling green.
When we took it on it had been empty for nine years. We lifted the ceilings, found the panelling, argued for a long time about the staircase, and kept everything that had an honest reason for being there. It took four years, which is about two more than the bank expected.
The building, in section
Five levels, one stair
- Attic. The House Suite, under oak trusses numbered by the carpenters of 1740.
- Second and third floors. Petite Rooms, the Noir Suite and the two Terrace Rooms cut into the back of the roof.
- First floor. Classic Rooms and the Corner Room, where the merchant counted his money.
- Ground floor. Reception, the long table, Bar Noir, and the Garden Rooms in the old stables at the back.
- Cellar. The sauna, the steam room and the cold shower, under brick vaults at the height of the water.
Designed for the evening
Most hotels are designed to photograph well at noon. We started from the question of what a room looks like at ten at night with one lamp on.
So the lights are low and warm and there are a lot of them. Walls go dark, so that what is lit matters. Linen, walnut, leather and bronzed stone all take low light well, and everything your hand touches is slightly heavier than you were expecting.
Inside the house
What we believe
Independent
No group, no loyalty points and no brand standard. If something is odd, it is because we like it that way.
Thirteen rooms
The number at which someone can still remember what you had for breakfast. We could fit sixteen. We would rather not.
Materials that age
Unlacquered brass, oiled oak, lime plaster, linen. All of it will look better in ten years, and we will not be replacing it.
Part of the street
The soap, the cups, the bread and the flowers come from people within a few minutes' walk. The bar is open to everyone.
One more thing
None of this exists.
Concept Project — NOIR House is a fictional boutique hotel created as a portfolio demonstration. The building, its history, the rooms, the bar and the voice telling you about them were all invented to show what a small hospitality brand’s website could be. The photographs are licensed stock from different places, graded to look like one shoot.