Stylt’s unique storytelling approach to interior design has not only played a major role in making the Radisson Sonya Hotel one of the most popular in St. Petersburg, but seen it become a focal point for appreciation of the city’s favourite literary son, the novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his masterpiece, Crime & Punishment.
Stylt was originally called in by Reval Hotels, a prominent hotel chain in the Baltic area, who had been looking for a suitable property with which to debut in the Russian market. Reval is owned by Norwegian property developer Linstow AS, who subsequently awarded the management of all their hotels to Radisson, including the one they finally acquired in St. Petersburg, a 176-room property located just five minutes from the famous Hermitage Museum. The brief from Reval was to help them make this hotel stand out in the market, since it was a little smaller in terms of room count than the average both in their own chain, and in the city.
The first step was to visit St. Petersburg, to see what made the city tick. Searching for the ultimate guidebook to the city, a friendly Russian chef came up with Crime and Punishment, that he meant still was the best guide to the psyche of St. Petersburg. Russians are very proud of the city, seen by many as the nation’s cultural capital. They are also extremely proud of Crime and Punishment, this shocking and gripping story of murder, remorse and ultimate redemption.
Stylt realized that this epic novel, acknowledged as one of the 50 most influential books ever written, represented a global brand that could be leveraged to stunning effect in the design and positioning of the hotel. The story is about Rodion Raskolnikov, who murder two women but is finally saved from descending into a moral abyss (but not from prison) by Sonya Marmeladova, a good middle class girl who has been forced into prostitution to save her family from bankruptcy. Using this apparently dark and negative plot as the basis for designing a hotel was challenging and seemed to go against all the rules of marketing. But creating the concept and transforming this literary masterpiece into bold design, great hospitality and unexpected guest experiences, Radisson Sonya Hotel became the talk of the town and a great commercial success.
As in other Stylt projects, the interiors of the Sonya can be enjoyed both superficially and in depth. A quick tour through the hotel gives an impression of bright contemporary design with many Russian references. But take one of the hotel staff aside, and they’ll tell you about the underlying philosophy of the design features, which is where the designers’ genius really shines.
Entering the lobby, you will feel you are entering Dostoyevsky’s own studio. Bookshelves on one side boast countless copies of Crime & Punishment in different editions and languages, mixed with piles of manuscript paper. The reception desk, which appears to float on air, is supported by a group of inverted black Matrioshka dolls, with a solitary tiny colored doll at the bottom seeming to bear the weight of the entire structure - just as the saintly Sonya bore the burdens of Raskolnikov’s tortured life. A giant Russian lacquer box serves as a comfortable sofa, one of several pieces commissioned from local artists, who pride themselves on their ability to encapsulate entire stories in their lacquer illustrations.
Metamorphosis is the keyword for Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece. Inspired by the story of Raskolnikov’s transformation, the hotel’s restaurant and bar was consequently named Metamorfos, with a menu created like a book with foreword, chapters and epilogue, presenting dishes as fascinating Russian stories.
Dostoyevsky was fascinated with Rafael’s painting called the Sistine Virgin, which he went to see five times in a museum in Dresden. In the Metamorfos outlet, the images of the Virgin morph into Dostoyevsky and then into Rafael. As the hotel’s general manager commented in the press conference to launch the property: “If you only see Sonya as a prostitute, then you don’t know Dostoyevsky.”
The guest rooms also feature images of the Virgin, while in the Ego Suite, there are paintings of Napoleon, who Raskolikov compared himself to as the archetype of the ‘superman’, a human being able to take the lives of others for the better good of society. Each of the guest room doors features a plaque with a quotation from the novel, in Russian and English, while the writing desks are contemporary replicas of Dostoyevsky’s own desk. The carpets in the room corridors are patterned with further text from the book, while the walls feature photos from specific landmarks in St. Petersburg named in the novel, that Raskolnikov passed by during his famous feverish walk when he decides to murder the old lady pawn broker and initiates his spiral into delirium. The hotel offers many other references, overt and subtle, for those guests who are keen to discover more insight about the book and its author in this innovative fashion.
So successful has this approach been that it has received two important endorsements, from people close to the continuing saga of Crime and Punishment. Dostoyevsky’s own great-grandson, Dimitri, is now a regular visitor to the hotel. A tram driver by trade but an interior designer by training, this warm and bearded man is often seen chatting with guests about his famous forebear, as well as his own fascinating life history. Asked how he would have designed the hotel, if he had been given the chance, he said: “just like this!”.
Another fan of the property is Valentina Ivanova Matviyenko, governor of St. Petersburg 2003-2011. Hotel Sonya was considered so important to St. Petersburg as a destination that it was officially opened by her, offering a ‘certificate of collaboration’ between the city’s famous Dostoyevsky Museum and the hotel.
The support of these two key persons reflects the general popularity of the hotel, among guests and tour operators, journalists and history lovers alike. They all agree that Stylt’s vision for the hotel was just what the property and the city needed, injecting a new vitality to the St. Petersburg lodging sector that reflects the pride and achievements of the real new Russia, as well as celebrating its past and the nation’s profound and often turbulent emotional life.
