The Independent Hotel in Rome

Housed in an early 20th-century building, The Independent Hotel by AG Hotels was designed by interior design studio COLLIDANIELARCHITETTO and draws inspiration from the nearby Baths of Diocletian, the largest and most monumental baths ever built by the ancient Romans. The hotel evokes Rome through a narrative shaped by material and memory, terracotta and water.

Spread across nine floors and comprising 48 rooms and suites, the hotel creates a sequence of spaces conceived as an extension of the city itself. The entrance and lobby alternate earthy tones and deep blues, large marble portals, textured surfaces and transparent elements. At the reception, red travertine is paired with light blue glass, while the breakfast room develops a distinctive language of monumental arches, boiserie, herringbone peperino stone flooring and glazed surfaces that evoke the movement of water.

The entire design is guided by the principle of the cardo and decumanus, the two main axes that structured ancient Rome. Here, they are reinterpreted as a design device that organises circulation, relationships and visual perception throughout the hotel. An orthogonal pattern runs through the public areas, allowing the building to be experienced as a small city in its own right.

The boiserie reinterprets the geometric pattern of the Roman axes through three-dimensional textures, while a palette of rich colours, velvet, natural oak, bespoke details and a carefully layered approach to lighting create highly distinctive interiors. Colour, material and light interact in balance, reinterpreting the character and atmosphere of Rome through a contemporary interior language.

Within this dialogue between architecture, material and light, Illum Group contributed to the lighting design and development of the project, defining and supplying the lighting fixtures and providing technical support throughout the process. The Illum team worked on the selection and development of the most suitable lighting solutions for the different spaces, including custom elements, ensuring that each product was appropriately integrated into the interiors and their architectural details. Illum also provided technical support during the installation phases, working alongside the project team to help ensure the correct implementation and integration of the lighting solutions on site.

The result is a project where light becomes an integral part of the overall design, enhancing materials, geometries and atmospheres while contributing to the layered visual experience that defines the identity of The Independent.