Hotel Indigo London Clerkenwell sits at 2 Clerkenwell Road, in the heart of one of London's most creative and design-forward districts. Taking its cues from the neighbourhood's rich heritage in clockmakers, goldsmiths and architects, the hotel was conceived as a celebration of the streets around it. Its interiors are layered with textured finishes, playful patterns and local design motifs — every detail rooted in place.
When a hotel is built around the idea of neighbourhood, putting the neighbourhood on the wall is not a decoration. It is a statement.
The Brief
Hotel Indigo commissioned Chisel & Mouse to create a large-format 3D map of Clerkenwell, centred on the hotel, to be installed in a recess in the lobby wall — covered in glass, lit from the edges with LEDs, and finished with a minimal white frame. The brief called for a piece that was art, geography, and talking point in one.
We worked closely with the hotel's interior designer throughout, coordinating on backboard specification, fixing details, and the way the piece would sit within its recess — the kind of collaboration that makes the difference between a map on a wall and a map that belongs there.
The Making
The map measures approximately 170 × 140 cm and is built from 99 individual 3D-printed tiles — eleven across, nine deep — each 15 × 15 cm. At approximately 1:2500 scale, the map covers an area of roughly 4.15 × 3.4 km: from the Shard in the south to the Barbican towers to the north, with the hotel at its centre.
Every building across the map is modelled in white. The hotel itself is printed in brass and modelled to a greater level of detail than its neighbours — present, recognisable, the fixed point around which the city arranges itself. At this scale the Shard stands 12 cm tall; the Barbican towers reach around 5 cm. The city's topography becomes legible in miniature.
Installed in its recess and lit from the perimeter, the piece glows. The white city recedes; the brass hotel holds its ground.
The Delivery
The map was installed in the hotel lobby, set into the wall and covered in glass. It is the first thing many guests stop to look at. Clerkenwell's streets, the bend of the river, the cluster of towers to the south — it orients you, and then it rewards you for looking more closely. The hotel is there, exactly where you are standing.
