Curious, W Melbourne

Curious invites guests to embrace their inner child.

Located underground as part of the W Melbourne complex, yet intended to attract the general public as much as hotel guests. It's a playful but sophisticated space that is designed to provoke a sense of wonder and discovery.

Design Overview

In keeping with the overall goals of W Melbourne, the design of Curious is courageous and innovative. The whole experience takes you outside the familiar.

With its rich colour palette, timber fittings and plush seating, Curious is warm and inviting, permitting visitors to lose themselves in a fantasy world. The cocoon shape and ceiling beams are a triumph of engineering.

Not only is this interior captivating, but it also considers and connects with a range of sustainable outcomes.

Curious is part of the Collins Arch development, where leading sustainability measures have been adopted. The building is awaiting 6-star Greenstar accreditation and 5.5-star NABERS energy rating.

Curious advances interior design practice by deliberating choosing not to be safe. In keeping with the W Melbourne brand, it is engaging, bold and unique.

Design addresses the needs of the business

The W brand is renowned for its bold, distinctive identity and this promise has been realised at Curious. Like something out of a fairy-tale book for grown-ups, it is one part quirky, one part avant-garde and one part chic.

Curious forms part of the hotel's overall theme, that celebrates the city’s hidden culinary and artistic treasures. 

Once inside, visitors discover the room’s cocoon-like design, formed from timber beams in a parametric sequence. A mirror at the end of the tunnel duplicates the room making it appear never-ending.

The design palette, comprising rich, dark tones and earthy materials, is playful yet welcoming. The space lit by subtle lighting, adding to the moody elegance.

Plush banquet seating, discrete booths, DJ area and a feature bar that follows the curvature of the tunnel wall. The space flows effortlessly. The back-of-house has been cleverly concealed to maximise workability and aesthetics.

Innovation and Excellence

Hachem was appointed to bring Curious to life after building work had started at W Melbourne. The area where the bar is located was originally conceived as office space until our intervention at the briefing stage.

This meant working with an unusual pre-existing half-moon shape that ultimately mandated the tunnel-like design response. Hachem were able to weave in the overall hotel design concept by taking advantage of this quirky area to create a quintessential secluded Melbourne bar.

The venue looks like it naturally belongs; testimony to the high degree of creativity involved in adapting this space.

Photography: Nicole Reed and Lucas Allen