Sofitel Brisbane Central wanted its dining rooms to feel calm, private and full of life, in spaces where the light is low. We chose species that hold condition without much of it, and replaced the pots with something that ties the hotel’s many looks together.

The client

Sofitel Brisbane Central is a five-star hotel sitting directly above Central Station. The interior is French in character with an Australian influence, and over the years different parts of the building have taken on different themes, so the look shifts as you move through it. Planting was already part of how the hotel reads, particularly around the places people eat.

The brief

On Level 1 the planting had to break up the standing areas outside the event rooms. In the restaurant it had to put some privacy between tables without closing the room in. The look wanted was clean, considered and modern, and every species had to hold condition in low light.

Placement

The hotel’s team knows how guests move through the building far better than we do, so they led on where the pots went. We guided and made suggestions, and they made the final call. On a floor this busy that is the right way round.

The planting

The dining areas are dark, and the hotel wanted the greenery to look lush rather than merely alive. The palette was chosen on that basis: dracaena, ficus, spathiphyllum, howea and epipremnum. None of it is unusual. It is what holds condition and stays full where natural light is limited.

The pots

With so many looks across the hotel, the pots became the thread that runs through them. The troughs already in place were white, rectangular and sharp-edged, and read as corporate against everything around them. We replaced them with round, low-set designer pots in a warm stone colour and a soft natural texture. They carry across the restaurant and the bar, and the two now read as one room rather than two.

Maintenance

We have serviced the site fortnightly since 2016. Low light means watering by judgement rather than by schedule, so each plant is treated according to where it sits. That is what keeps the planting full between visits, and the pots and the plants looking like they were chosen together.