Kirstin Fordyce

The Sorting Room is a boutique hotel based in the former Post Office building located in the city centre of Dundee. The design is inspired by the building’s rich history in the postal service, it explores the hidden operations within the UK postal system and the journey of a letter translated in the form of a user journey experience throughout the building. Over the years the level of social interaction within the postal service has decreased compared to when it was first introduced into society. Through intelligent spatial structures the design challenges this and encourages social interactions between guests. The nature of observation by looking through abstract ‘pigeonhole’ structures to different spaces allows guests to connect with one another visually.

The sentimentality and romanticism of letter writing, as well as the materials used within traditional letter writing heavily influences the design through textures and interior structures. The hotel experience embraces the postal service history as each floor level is named after different ‘rooms’ in the postal service that house various machinery and tasks. These ‘rooms’ have shaped the design of each floor level, especially the Sorting Room which acts as a space of movement that ‘sorts’ the guests into different areas of the hotel.