The Orchard Hotel is west of the city centre of Nottingham, between the East Midlands Conference Centre and the University Park Campus, nestled in an expansive park with gently rolling hills, old trees and abundant orchards. After winning the tender contest, one essential idea during the draft concept at RHWL Architects in London was to integrate the 200-bed hotel as seamlessly as possible in the landscape. The planners therefore divided the construction volume into three building layers grouped loosely side by side, making it possible for the green areas inclined towards the east to flow as it were through the hotel. The impression of openness and closeness to nature is achieved in particular by the central atrium: expansive glass façades as well as a glass roof spanned by a wave-like wooden construction. The expressive gesture of this supporting structure made of larch marks the main entrance and simultaneously symbolises that the lobby and bar, restaurant and library are also open for passers-by coming from the adjacent conference centre to the University of Nottingham campus.