Melbourne Modern
A landmark hotel in Melbourne’s evolving fabric, designed by Kennedy Nolan
Linear is a publication for the Architecturally Curious™
We explore modern and contemporary architecture, what “design” really means, and the art of noticing. Our regular newsletter features collections and editorials on projects we think are worth exploring. We curate design-led stays and experiences, and hosts events that bring design to life. Explore the archive and subscribe for free.
Melbourne Modern
A landmark hotel in Melbourne’s evolving fabric
Melbourne Place (2024) — Designed by Kennedy Nolan (Melbourne, Australia)
Melbourne is a city that reveals itself slowly. The best spots are tucked behind unmarked doors, down narrow laneways, layered with history and reinvention. Melbourne Place, a new 16-story hotel designed by Kennedy Nolan, taps into that same rhythm — it doesn’t just sit in the city; it folds into its fabric.
While most contemporary high-rises try to disappear behind reflective glass, Melbourne Place has some weight to it. A massive brick plinth anchors the base, giving the hotel a presence that feels closer to the city’s historic commercial buildings than to the slick towers rising around it. Above, the façade plays with angles and shadow — deep wedges of precast concrete catching the shifting light. It’s the kind of articulation that keeps a building from feeling static — something too many new developments miss.
But what really makes Melbourne Place work is the way it engages with the street. As anyone who’s lived in New York knows, some of the best coffee shops to work from, or bars to slip into, aren’t standalone cafes or cocktail bars — they’re hotels. (Ace Hotels nails “third spaces.”) Melbourne’s laneway culture is built for this.
Nolan leans into it. The ground floor hosts retail spaces, while a second-floor balcony (first-floor, for those in Australia) extends the connection to the street upwards. The “vertical hospitality” concept continues all the way to the rooftop restaurant, swapping laneway intimacy for sweeping city views.
Unlike most large-scale hospitality projects, Kennedy Nolan oversaw the architectural, interior, and brand design, a rare combination critical to the project’s cohesive, tactile design. Materials — West Australian jarrah, custom terrazzo, details in brass and corten steel — were chosen to wear in, not out. Fixtures, furnishings, and lighting are locally sourced. Even the hotel’s art program engages Melbourne’s layers, nodding to its Indigenous history, industrial past, and constant evolution.
Longtime followers know I’m obsessed with Melbourne’s design culture. Melbourne Place is one of the more exciting projects I’ve seen. It’s not just a hotel that happens to be in Melbourne; it’s a hotel that only makes sense in Melbourne. There’s no anonymous glass curtain wall, no vague nods to “local culture” through a couple of framed prints in the lobby.
Melbourne Place is a building that reflects the way the city itself works — layered, tactile, engaged with its surroundings. The kind of place that doesn’t just take up space, but belongs there.
Explore Melbourne Place on Linear Magazine →
melbourne modern, high life, only here, homegrown, common ground
—Designed by Kennedy Nolan
—Photos by Derek Swalwell, Kristoffer Paulsen, Sean Fennessy, Anson Smart
—Melbourne, Australia
As always, thanks for reading! Learn more about these projects, and view the rest of the collection on Linear-Magazine.com.
Linear is a publication for the Architecturally Curious, devoted to exploring and understanding the built world around us. Subscribe to this newsletter for editorials and hand-curated collections of projects worth learning about.
