RSHP has designed a contemporary hotel and residence for Mandarin Oriental Mayfair which has blended modern design with Georgian architectural influences.

Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, located at 22 Hanover Square, is a contemporary mixed-use development designed by RSHP. Completed in 2024, it marks the first new-build luxury hotel in Mayfair in over a decade.

The hotel offers 50 guestrooms and 77 private residences, along with dining venues, bars, and a spa featuring a 25-meter pool. The development also includes a rooftop bar and terraces, providing generous views over Hanover Square and the wider Westminster area.

The building employs a Vierendeel structural frame, a pioneering approach in the UK, which utilises rectangular frames without diagonal members. This design choice allows for expansive internal spaces and a unique façade characterised by the UK’s longest handmade red brick ‘baguettes’. These elements draw inspiration from the surrounding Georgian architecture, creating a harmonious blend of modern and traditional aesthetics. They seek to achieve a contemporary language that responds to the rhythm, articulation, colouration and proportion of the local context. The steel and concrete exoskeleton structure is highly crafted and scaled to ensure legibility.

The building’s section resolves a complex spatial puzzle with the bulk of the building located within the centre of the city block, with a smaller percentage articulated towards Hanover Square and Brook Street. The building is formed of two ‘pavilion’ towers, connected by a glazed stair and lift core that links all levels, whilst permitting natural light to flood deep into the plan and lower-ground floors.

The design incorporated practical measures to improve environmental performance. The façade was designed to be dismountable and reuse, and the use of a steel structural frame helped reduce the reliance on concrete. The development achieved a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating, recognising its solid performance in key areas of environmental assessment.