Inside an Award-Winning Hotel With a Millennial Twist

2023 Best of Year Winner for Budget Hotel

The terroir of Santa Clara Valley, California, is imbued throughout the newly refreshed Hotel Avante, a 91-key hotel in the heart of the region. Everywhere, from the lobby, corridors, and gym to the elevators—totaling 36,000 square feet—plus the exterior and pool, are suffused in subtle hues of sage, rosemary, and juniper, while materials are authentically at home in the agriculture-rich location thanks to BHDM Design. See the lobby lounge’s pieced-leather wall by Peter Glassford and BHDM’s custom cerused-oak rocking chairs in guest rooms, where headboard walls are emblazoned with abstract vinyl wallcovering by Michael Hildebrand. It’s modern organic, with a millennial twist—all for an incredible $55 per square foot.

Dan Mazzarini; Sheila Cahill; Sheridan Markham.

A Trio of Model Apartments Designed for Different Renters

A new apartment tower in the up-and-coming Hunter’s Point neighborhood of Long Island City has a name that evokes old New York and a certain superhero’s home turf: Gotham Point. Units in the two-tower complex, located on Queen’s westernmost tip, overlook the East River through expansive windows. BHDM Design, one of Interior Design‘s 2023 Rising Giants, was tapped to envision a trio of model apartments with different renter profiles in mind. “To showcase the building’s potential, we crafted a story behind each one,” firm principal Dan Mazzarini explains. First there’s the studio, concepted for an artistic singleton with sophisticated taste who might appreciate the vintage camera and photographic art wall. The one-bedroom, perfect for a newlywed couple, has funky pottery, ceilings painted a warm terra-cotta, and furniture suited to entertaining. The three-bedroom unit, maybe for a family, feels lived-in and well-curated. Mazzarini notes that the models are filled with unique “memory points” in the forms of objects, furnishings, and details BHDM hopes will give visitors a vision of their new life here.

Step Inside Gotham Point in Queens, New York

BHDM Design Breathes New Life into the Novotel Miami Brickell Hotel

2021 Best of Year Winner for Budget Hotel

The lobby and lounges at this existing hotel had good bones—the ceilings were 19 feet, the windows floor-to-ceiling. But the 4,500 square feet of public spaces lacked “personality and a sense of narrative,” notes principal and creative director Dan Mazzarini of BHDM Design, who quickly, and inexpensively ($173 per square foot to be exact), made amends.

Conceiving of a “sun, sand, surf” theme, he and his team marshalled a peachy palette along with furnishings in rounded shapes that have a “work/live/play vibe.” Costs were kept down with off-the-shelf pieces from the likes of Arteriors, Blu Dot, Frontgate, and Restoration Hardware. Indoor/outdoor chairs resemble rattan but are made of sturdy powder-coated metal, polyamide, and acrylic.

Custom designs came into play, too, such as the cerused-oak bar screen that was inspired by South Beach lifeguard stands but functions as built-in shelving. Likewise, in the textile department, custom-printed ombre sheeting adds softness at windows and in a nook off a lobby entrance, while the underside of the rooftop lounge awning has been printed with a palm-leaf pattern. As for the lobby’s whimsical 12-foot trees mimicking local flora, they’re made of white canvas. Uplit at night, they cast dramatic frondlike shadows across the ceiling. By day, they require no watering—just an occasional dusting.

BHDM Design: Dan Mazzarini; Jennifer Rosenthal