Contemporary elegance in the traditional heart of Dublin

Imagine Dublin’s biggest attractions — its pubs, art galleries, cinemas, theatres, restaurants, music venues and much more — all crammed into an area just a few blocks wide. Well, this is Temple Bar, the cultural and festive heart of the Irish capital.
During the day the area is animated by street artists and open-air markets, then when evening falls it’s as though someone has turned up the volume several notches. Temple Bar has the highest density of pubs in the city, which are always keen to host folk music and DJ sets, while the restaurants serve Asian, American and Irish specialities.
Located right in the centre of Temple Bar, Morgan Hotel is perfectly positioned as a base for visiting the city. Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral and Grafton Street are just a few of the attractions within short walking distance of the hotel.
The building was recently remodelled and renovated by NODA, an Architecture and Interior Design Studio specialising in the hospitality and retail sectors.
The project, explained NODA Senior Architect Eimear Ennis, consisted of a rebranding and repositioning of the hotel within the MHL collection. «It was a meticulously crafted project that involved remodelling and restyling the ground-floor public areas and the existing guest rooms while building a new floor of bedrooms and suites.»
One of the client’s specific requests, continues Eimear, was that the «ground-floor public areas would have the flexibility needed to function as independent spaces while acting as an extension of the hotel several days a week. With this in mind, No. 10 Fleet Street Restaurant & Bar was separated out from the hotel to create a city identity».
NODA created a restaurant & bar that embraces one of the latest nightlife trends in Dublin and elsewhere: Cocktails and Mixology.
Mixology has elevated the practice of mixing drinks into an art form, a kind of alchemy. In a way it is to the world of drinks what gourmet cuisine is to that of food: a sophisticated technique that aims to recreate a unique and immersive cocktail-tasting experience that engages all the senses. Sitting at the bar is an entertainment in itself, the regular pint of beer or glass of wine replaced by spirits and liqueurs carefully prepared using smokers, shakers, stills and droppers, citrus fruit slices and peel…
To reposition the Morgan Hotel at the top of the market, NODA started out from the establishment’s on-trend, avant-garde image when first opened. They drew inspiration from New York and California and added in a touch of Art Deco. The result is a modern yet opulent style that stands out for its essential lines and the use of sophisticated materials such as velvet, brass and marble-look porcelain.
Finally, NODA opted for a contrasting black and white colour palette enlivened here and there with pink, mustard and turquoise accents and glints of brass.
The bright reception stands out for its large windows and white walls dominated by sophisticated appliques and brass-plated light installations, almost art works in their own right, while a black and white ceramic carpet was created using Antique Pisa/Black Cassettone decorative tiles against a backdrop of elegant marble-effect Centuries Pisa tiles from Ceramiche Campogalliano.
The reception leads directly to the Restaurant & Bar, where the softer atmosphere and white walls gradually give way to shades of taupe and black.
The floors are clad with hexagonal Antique Pisa Hexagon and Panarea Black Hexagon tiles, coordinated successfully with the warm wood tones and the houndstooth and turquoise fabrics of the chairs.
NODA chose the Centuries and Panarea collection tiles from Ceramiche Campogalliano for the floors as they combine a hard-wearing, low-maintenance surface with an Art Deco design concept, particularly the two-tone floors that act as a powerful visual element in association with sophisticated materials such as marble. But above all, explains Eimear Ennis, the antique look and the timeworn, almost scratched effect of the slabs and tiles coupled with the sublime imitation of the irregular veins of marble played a key role in emphasising the design choice of recreating an elegant and at the same time extremely contemporary Art Deco ambience.