Article content It seemed fitting that when we went to check in at Seattle’s citizenM we were directed to a bank of computer screens that walked us through a self-check-in process. The boutique hotel is in the heart of the South Lake Union district, home to some of the world’s largest technology companies, from Google to Amazon, and from Microsoft to Facebook, and dozens and dozens of smaller companies, many of them startups hoping to be the next unicorn. Just as technology is at the core of this neighbourhood, it’s in the DNA of .
If you’re unfamiliar with the citizenM hotel chain, it was founded by Rattan Chadha, the creator of the Mexx fashion brand. The first hotel opened at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in 2008, and today the global company counts 20 properties, including one in neighbourhood. The philosophy is ‘affordable luxury for the people,’ and art and design are integral to each hotel’s distinct personality.
And so, given its locale, the citizenM in South Lake Union leans heavily into local art and global technology. The first taste of that distinct homegrown art you sample occurs before you even enter the hotel. The façade is wrapped in a massive innovation-themed artwork by Jesse LeDoux, the former art director of Seattle’s legendary Sub Pop Records.
That’s just whetting your appetite however, as once you enter the big lobby of citizenM you’re immersed in a world of colour, Scandinavian design and cultural technology touchstones from the p.
