Sans Souci Lighting, the renowned Czech lighting studio celebrated for its exquisite glass craftsmanship, has recast the arrival experience at the Oran Royal Hotel in Algeria, with a bespoke Vice Versa chandelier that anchors the room in a new way.
Project Name: Historic Oran Royal Hotel Gets a Bespoke Light Intervention
Studio Name: Sans Souci
Set within a colonial structure dating back to 1920, the hotel carries a certain weight of history. Its interiors hold onto that memory, even as they open themselves to a more current rhythm. At the centre of this shift, the reception now gathers around a bespoke Vice Versa installation, designed under the direction of Radek Brezar.
The piece descends in a measured cascade, each element suspended with precision. Sheets of slumped glass catch and diffuse light in uneven ways, their surfaces gently textured, never flat. Between them, metal components treated with a fine nanocoating hold a darker sheen, offering contrast without heaviness. The result is not a single form, but a field – light breaking, softening, and reforming as one moves through the space.
There is a restraint to the composition. It does not overwhelm the architecture; it listens to it. The height of the room is acknowledged, the proportions held in balance. From below, the chandelier reads as a quiet constellation – layered, luminous, and constantly shifting with the hour. The Vice Versa language is built on contrast, but here it is resolved with clarity. Glass against metal, opacity against reflection, weight against suspension. Each element is deliberate, yet nothing feels forced.
Placed at the point of arrival, the installation becomes the first gesture of welcome. It does not announce itself loudly. Instead, it draws the eye upward, holds it there for a moment, and lets the space unfold around it. With this intervention, Sans Souci Lighting reshapes the reception into something both grounded in its past and attuned to the present.
