Kerten Hospitality has announced the opening of The House Hotel Jeddah City Yard, marking the lifestyle brand’s Middle Eastern debut.
Located within City Yard Center, a sprawling mixed-use piazza in the upscale Al Rawdah district, the boutique hotel is where lifestyle and community seamlessly co-exist.
Working with City Yard Center owners Pure Houses, Saudi architect Ayman AlMehmadi designed a minimal low-rise building with materials that reflect regional culture, such as the sandstone used for the property’s façade, while local patterns have also found a new contemporary language in the entire piazza’s blueprint. The City Yard Center itself has been divided into three distinct sections, with a harmony created between the hotel and its lobby, a centralized piazza, and an interior street, while expansive outdoor spaces that breathe life into the entire area are accented with mature orange and olive trees and rounded out with a central water feature.
Inside, David Hodkinson and Luc Lejeune of the Athens- and Saigon-based Studio Noor have overseen the interior design, with guestrooms and public spaces defined by an aesthetic born from their deep research on Saudi culture, materials, patterns, colours and crafts. Spaces are adorned with marble, bespoke furniture, and artworks made by local artists. The result is a carefully choreographed aesthetic that offers striking impressions that are both comfortable and cozy in nature, such as in the lobby, where a theatrical effect is established through a custom staircase-cum-lounge, double-height ceilings, intimate mezzanine divan seating, and a coffee nook. Additionally, the central staircase is one of many elements reflecting the fact that the property is the first in the country to integrate recent social and cultural movements – the feature is a modern reinterpretation of the traditional majlis.
Each of the 101 rooms and 13 suites are outfitted with custom furniture, including oversized daybeds and walnut features in headboards, wardrobes, cabinets, wall panels, and credenzas. Suites feature marble bathrooms, rain showers, and freestanding bathtubs, and every room is stocked with all-natural, essential oil–based toiletries packaged in recyclable containers.
The property is also home to a space for networking and collaborations as well as health and wellness areas, including a spa, a gym, and a rooftop pool that overlooks the Jeddah skyline and is lined with olive trees, mirroring those in the piazza.
