Tone Wheeler
The Holiday Inn at Melbourne has been in the news recently, as the site of virus contamination suspected to be through the ventilation system. Archi-spotters will have recognized the concave shape of the hotel walls as one of several similar designs in Australia. Firstly, on the design; secondly, on the ventilation.
The floor plan, based on a triangle, was developed in the USA in the 70s by ‘Travelodge Hotels’. It’s a masterpiece of modernist minimalism: the central core is equally distant from a fire stair at the end of three double loaded corridors, minimizing non-monetised circulation space. The curved concave exterior means the that the widest part of each room is along the internal corridor, allowing for entry, storage and bathroom and the room proper narrows to the smallest amount of window required for light and view.