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DRIFT Hotel
DRIFT Hotel
Santa Barbara, CA, United States
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DRIFT Hotel
Santa Barbara, CA, United States
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2023
SIZE
10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft
BUDGET
$10M - 50M
Drift Santa Barbara, a 45-key boutique hotel in the heart of downtown at 524 State Street, is a modern reincarnation of a 20th-century hotel that once lived in this space. The building has stood for well over 100 years, has had many lives, and is one of the only downtown survivors of the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake. Most recently, the space served as the home of the Church of Scientology for the last decade, an establishment known by the community but only from outside the walls. Santa Barbara-based ANACAPA approached this project by keeping the mystery alive while bringing an unexpected and design-forward travel experience to the popular leisure area. Through impactful and intentional design decisions, the team brought modern life to a building inaccessible to most of the community for so long, bringing a breath of fresh air to downtown catering to all.
There was great intention when choosing the colors and materials for the Drift Santa Barbara project. The team wanted to do the unexpected and provide a youthful look in contrast to the exterior Mediterranean architecture, which was carefully preserved and restored for modern-day use. The primary color used throughout the interior space was black, accented by concrete for an industrial feel. The use of wood warms up the spaces, with the white oak accents explicitly chosen to tie the interiors to the building’s exteriors and the greater community’s design style. The architectural bones of the building had minor shoring work done over the years. However, extensive work was needed to retain the masonry walls, adding rebar, shotcrete, and steel frames to ensure the building was prepared for its new life. Through this process, the team determined materials that could be salvaged for new uses, with the original wood framing repurposed for the walls and aesthetics within the penthouse and behind the headboards within each room.
As part of a restoration, a challenge is always to create experiences that are appealing to the modern traveler with what is provided, and the rooms are quite compact compared to the average hotel room due to the building’s locale within a heavily restricted area of town. The team creatively used the square footage through design choices such as an alcove built under the bed frame to tuck away carry-on luggage and a shower featuring a glass corner to make the room look and feel more spacious upon entry while maintaining the cozy feel.
The first-floor layout is very open, with walls between the coffee shop and bar opening to create a space for locals and travelers to collaborate. The garage doors open towards the pedestrian-only promenade to spark interest from wanderers and bring a new meaning behind the mystery of what is inside the Santa Barbara community. The restoration introduces a vibrant use of a previously dilapidated and generally vacant building, bringing a new demographic of travelers into Santa Barbara.
There was great intention when choosing the colors and materials for the Drift Santa Barbara project. The team wanted to do the unexpected and provide a youthful look in contrast to the exterior Mediterranean architecture, which was carefully preserved and restored for modern-day use. The primary color used throughout the interior space was black, accented by concrete for an industrial feel. The use of wood warms up the spaces, with the white oak accents explicitly chosen to tie the interiors to the building’s exteriors and the greater community’s design style. The architectural bones of the building had minor shoring work done over the years. However, extensive work was needed to retain the masonry walls, adding rebar, shotcrete, and steel frames to ensure the building was prepared for its new life. Through this process, the team determined materials that could be salvaged for new uses, with the original wood framing repurposed for the walls and aesthetics within the penthouse and behind the headboards within each room.
As part of a restoration, a challenge is always to create experiences that are appealing to the modern traveler with what is provided, and the rooms are quite compact compared to the average hotel room due to the building’s locale within a heavily restricted area of town. The team creatively used the square footage through design choices such as an alcove built under the bed frame to tuck away carry-on luggage and a shower featuring a glass corner to make the room look and feel more spacious upon entry while maintaining the cozy feel.
The first-floor layout is very open, with walls between the coffee shop and bar opening to create a space for locals and travelers to collaborate. The garage doors open towards the pedestrian-only promenade to spark interest from wanderers and bring a new meaning behind the mystery of what is inside the Santa Barbara community. The restoration introduces a vibrant use of a previously dilapidated and generally vacant building, bringing a new demographic of travelers into Santa Barbara.
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