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By Jane Levere
Photography by Bruce Buck
With a resume that includes an MBA, working at investment banking firms in both London and New York City, real estate investing, and multiple design and fine arts schools, it makes sense that after 12 years of designing for other people (mostly residential), business-savvy designer Thomas Hays would finally want to design a project for himself. "[Owning] is a natural segue of the two—banking and owning real estate," says Hays, founder of his namesake New York City firm. And so he chose building a hotel that's more like a home: Called Riad Meriem, the tiny, five-room, three-floor hotel occupies a courtyard house (or riad) in heart of Marrakesh's old, fortified quarter (known as the medina). And in the avid art and antique collector's signature fashion, it's a stunning, intimate amalgam of the old, the new, and the outdoors. "My focus was to give guests an experience rooted in the ancient world of the medina through the materials and colors I chose," he says. "The architectural plan was kept simple instead of over-the-top ornate."
The rooftop terrace, gorgeously landscaped with bougainvillaea, olive trees, pomegranate bushes, and jasmine, boasts views of nearby mountains. It's decorated with a long, iron table covered with turquoise Moroccan mosaic tiles, as well as chairs, ottomans, and settees covered in a fresh, white, outdoor acrylic cloth trimmed in black; some are set under a matching pagoda-like tent. The walls are made of earth and brick covered with a special plaster called tadelakt, which Hays describes as a "Moroccan version of Venetian plaster," a combination of lime, plaster, and pigment that varies in color by room—from aubergine and ivory to lime green, but all inspired by the local landscape.
On the ground floor is an oriental plunge pool, surrounded by palm trees and more bougainvillaea; facing it is a patio lounge, or bhou, decorated with a large settee covered in mulberry mohair. Hays designed the light fixture here, made in Morocco of brass carved with floral patterns that cast beautiful shadows when illuminated at night. (In fact, Hays enlisted local craftsmen to fabricate most aspects of the hotel for an authentic feel.) Adding to the oriental allure: an antique Moroccan rug and chocolate calfskin poufs. Nearby, a wooden dining table, iron chairs with harp-shaped backs and mulberry mohair cushions, and a cozy, Moroccan-style fireplace decorate the salon and chimney lounge.
On the second floor are four of Riad's five guestrooms; three are suites. Most second-floor rooms open onto a verandah, decorated with an eggplant mohair-covered couch and abstract Sumatran and Kurdistani antique textile wall hangings. Those same textiles are found on the deeply colored guestroom walls, mixed with contemporary Moroccan art and photographs taken by Hays (he's also an avid photographer) of exotic scenes in Africa and Asia. He has imaginatively recycled Filipino fish traps, made of woven rattan and rice paper, to serve as guestroom light fixtures, and 19th-century Indian bronze cooking vessels as bathroom wash basins. "The result is a space full of history with a contemporary twist," Hays says. For more information, visit www.thomashaysinteriors.com or www.riadmeriem.com.
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Modest Moroccan
Sept 3, 2008Photography by Bruce Buck
With a resume that includes an MBA, working at investment banking firms in both London and New York City, real estate investing, and multiple design and fine arts schools, it makes sense that after 12 years of designing for other people (mostly residential), business-savvy designer Thomas Hays would finally want to design a project for himself. "[Owning] is a natural segue of the two—banking and owning real estate," says Hays, founder of his namesake New York City firm. And so he chose building a hotel that's more like a home: Called Riad Meriem, the tiny, five-room, three-floor hotel occupies a courtyard house (or riad) in heart of Marrakesh's old, fortified quarter (known as the medina). And in the avid art and antique collector's signature fashion, it's a stunning, intimate amalgam of the old, the new, and the outdoors. "My focus was to give guests an experience rooted in the ancient world of the medina through the materials and colors I chose," he says. "The architectural plan was kept simple instead of over-the-top ornate."
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