A modern hotel buffet setting with wood-look counters, stainless steel chafing dishes, hanging pendant lights, and plated food on serving tables.

Room With a View

LOCATION

Bel-Aire Suite Hotel | Durban, KZN

TYPE

Hotel | Dining Room and Conference Centre | New Build

BRIEF

Design the interiors for a new 11th-floor addition to the Bel-Aire Suites Hotel, creating a restaurant, buffet dining area and conference centre within the newly built level, while making the most of the elevated beachfront setting and panoramic views.

Built as a completely new 11th-floor addition to the Bel-Aire Suites Hotel, the project created a new restaurant, buffet dining area and conference centre with sweeping views over Durban’s beachfront. The interior needed to feel contemporary and polished, while still working hard for the day-to-day demands of hotel dining, conferences and larger events.

Warm timber, charcoal finishes and layered lighting give the new level a clear identity, while custom buffet stations, joinery and carefully planned seating help organize the open floor plan. The design keeps the spaces light and uncluttered, allowing the beachfront setting and elevated views to remain a defining part of the experience.

Modern hotel interior with large windows overlooking the ocean in Durban.
Durban Beachfront promenade with ocean view from Bel-Aire Suites Hotel
Modern hotel buffet counter with light wood grain front, stone tops and induction warmers, with pendant lights, dark walls, and wood flooring.

A run of slim pendant lights adds rhythm above the main buffet counter and helps define the service zone without closing it off from the rest of the restaurant. Full-height glazing keeps the ocean and beachfront views present throughout, giving the dining space a strong connection to its elevated coastal setting.

Modern hotel buffet counter with light wood grain front, and stone tops, with dark walls, and wood flooring.
A modern interior design scene featuring a prominent white marble-look hotel buffet counter in the foreground, a light wood counter front, and dark brown wood flooring.

The monolithic stone block gives the buffet counter enough visual weight to hold its own within the large open-plan dining space, while sandblasted oak panels add warmth and texture.

Modern pendant lights hanging from the ceiling in a hotel lift lobby with oak clad walls.
Hotel dining area with black shelving unit displaying ceramic items and a table set with white napkins.
Modern black metal network chandelier light fixture with multiple spherical bulbs, shown hanging from a patterned acoustic ceiling in a contemporary hotel dining room and confernence centre.

Acoustics were carefully considered throughout the dining room and conference level, with slotted acoustic ceiling tiles and timber slats concealing additional sound-absorbing material. The result is a space that can handle the activity of hotel dining and events without compromising the visual language of the interior.

Green plants in a concrete planter with hotel buffet counter in the background

Custom screens, timber detailing and hardware were used to bring character into the smaller moments of the interior, not just the main spaces.

Geometric vinyl pattern on a glass conference room door.
Custom oak door with metallic handles in hotel conference centre.