Australia Welcomes Its First Urban Resort – The Calile Hotel by Richards and Spence

The Calile design embraces and advances this established tropical vernacular.

“In our opinion there is no other city-based Australian hotel conceived as a resort”.

“City-based hotels in our country are pitched to a corporate market, focussed on the conference, rather than on the pool and the hotel’s surrounds. The Calile aims to change that perception”.

The most prominent space of The Calile is undoubtably the elevated, centrally-located pool and the surrounding pool deck area featuring outdoor dining, cabanas and sun lounges. The Calile pool area is key to creating the unique urban resort feel developed by the design. This tropical resort theme, reminiscent of Palm Springs, is reinforced by every unique detail of the hotel. The external naturally-ventilated corridors and lift lobbies with ceiling fans and planters, combined with operable windows and balconies, co-exist to continue the resort theme inside and outside the rooms.

The Calile pool area is key to creating the unique urban resort feel developed by the design.

Despite drawing inspiration from tropical architecture around the globe, the design for The Calile by Richards and Spence feels uniquely Brisbane in nature, meaning the hotel is not out of place amongst the urban streetscape of the James Street precinct in Fortitude Valley. A triumph of Queensland design, The Calile is aesthetically pleasing from every angle, introducing guests to a level of resort style luxury seldom seen in traditional urban hotels. Beyond the facilities, amenities, restaurants and service, The Calile is a story of architecture that is further enhanced by the nature of the Brisbane climate. When asked to reflect on his design for The Calile, Adrian Spence simply states, “It is our greatest professional achievement to date”.