Lifestyle aparthotel brand Locke makes its debut in Switzerland with Locke am Platz in Zurich’s lakeside district of Enge. A leafy, central neighbourhood, home to financial and insurance institutions, historical villas and verdant parks, as a destination for the new outpost, Enge reflects the mix of design-minded business and leisure travellers that the brand attracts. Spread across six floors, the property comprises 80 units, ranging from hotel-style rooms and suites, ideal for short city breaks, to studios with living areas and fully fitted kitchenettes for longer stays. Imbued with a boudoir-style ambience, the rooms and studios are swathed in colourful tones, plush materials and vibrant patterns, as are the aparthotel’s social spaces which include a restaurant, a bar and a café doubling as a co-working space. Inspired by Zurich’s architectural grandeur, modernist legacy and lakeside elegance, London-based design studio Tatjana von Stein have embraced a Riviera style that tiptoes between timeless elegance and theatrical flair to create an environment of indulgence and refinement.

In Locke am Platz’s meticulously curated social spaces, a rich tapestry of contrasting soft and hard materials is paired with a vibrant palette of terracotta, mustard, and olive-green hues. Plentiful natural light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows amplifies the contrasting textures and bold colours creating an inviting ambience. Micro cement, marble and stainless-steel surfaces are playfully juxtaposed with velvet-lined curtains, patterned rugs and plush upholstery, the latter courtesy of Tatjana von Stein’s custom-designed furniture. Manufactured by Parla, the Bauhaus-style sofas, chairs and tables add to the scheme’s Riviera-style elegance, as do the inlaid parquet flooring, wall panelling, and glass and metal sconces.

Lined with velvet curtains and swathed in terracotta hues, the reception welcomes guests into a theatrically playful space. Elevated on a carpeted platform, the curtain-lined lounge offers an intimate vantage point overlooking the broader common area. Also swathed in terracotta hues, it serves as a counterpoint to the green and mustard tones that dominate Locke am Platz’s restaurant, Choupette, a modern brasserie that serves classic French dishes with Nordic and Japanese touches under the guidance of head chef Jaco Redelinghuy.

Nestled in between the lounge and the restaurant, the bar area seamlessly connects the two spaces, spatially and aesthetically. Adorned with intricately crafted decorative timber panels, the bar counter’s modernist era-inspired geometric forms are echoed throughout the social spaces, from the reception’s light pendants, to the cylindrical and hexagonal support pillars on the restaurant’s pedestal tables, through to Gio Ponti’s ‘Bilia’ table lamps and triangular sconces by Tatjana von Stein. A collection of abstract paintings further underscores the modernist-inflected aesthetic while a couple of marble busts on ornate pedestals and a hand-painted mural by the esteemed decorative painter Magdalena Julia Gordon crowning one of the dining spaces all add classical flourishes.

The mix of vibrant colours, rich textures and bold fabrics continues in the property’s rooms and studios. Bespoke curtains in geometric patterns lining the walls of the living areas paired with Tatjana von Stein’s Bauhaus-style, colourfully upholstered furnishings create a soothing atmosphere of playful sophistication, with additional curtains framing the beds further enhancing the boudoir-style aesthetic.