{"id":2835,"date":"2025-08-08T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T08:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/?p=2835"},"modified":"2025-08-08T15:09:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T15:09:54","slug":"nerihu-converts-tbilisis-abandoned-soviet-era-post-office-into-telegraph-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/08\/nerihu-converts-tbilisis-abandoned-soviet-era-post-office-into-telegraph-hotel\/","title":{"rendered":"Neri&Hu converts Tbilisi’s abandoned Soviet-era post office into Telegraph Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Grand<\/div>\n

Architecture firm Neri&Hu<\/a> has transformed the carcass of Tbilisi<\/a>‘s former central post office into a 239-room hotel<\/a> while preserving its distinctive modernist facade.<\/span><\/p>\n

The studio’s first project in Georgia saw founders Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu tackle one of the capital’s most prominent Soviet-era ruins<\/a>, set on the main artery of Rustaveli Avenue.<\/p>\n

\"Exterior
Neri&Hu has designed the Telegraph Hotel in Tbilisi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originally designed by Georgian architects Lado Meskhishvili and Teimuraz Mikashavidze in 1964, the building served as locals’ primary connection to the outside world, allowing them to send telegrams and make calls before this technology became commonplace in most households.<\/p>\n

“The Telegraph building holds a special place in Tbilisi’s social memory \u2013 not just as a physical landmark, but as a space of communication, connection and exchange,” Neri&Hu<\/a> explained.<\/p>\n

\"Courtyard
The hotel is centred around an internal courtyard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Our goal was to respect its identity while reimagining it for contemporary use, creating a new chapter that remains connected to its original spirit of openness and exchange,” the duo added.<\/p>\n

The renovation saw Neri&Hu retain the building’s Soviet modernist facade, with its monumental cornice made of local Bolnisi tuff \u2013 the same stone used to clad the Georgian Parliament further along Rustaveli Avenue.<\/p>\n

\"Courtyard
Planting droops down onto the al fresco bar housed in the courtyard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But at street level, floor-to-ceiling glazing was added to allow passersby a peek into the hotel’s public spaces, among them five different restaurants and a small library, arranged around a central courtyard complete with climbing greenery and an al fresco bar.<\/p>\n

Neri&Hu used glass instead of solid walls to divide these different spaces, maintaining sight lines deep into the building from the street in the hopes of establishing the Telegraph hotel as an extension of Tbilisi’s public space.<\/p>\n

\"Glass
Glass partitions were used instead of solid walls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“A key gesture was the use of a transparent facade, which helps dissolve the boundary between inside and outside,” the duo explained. “This visual permeability invites passersby in and reinforces the sense of continuity between public and private space.”<\/p>\n

“The internal corridors function like small streets, connecting back to the city and encouraging circulation through the site,” they added.<\/p>\n

“At the heart of the project, the large central courtyard becomes a new, vibrant piazza for the city \u2013 a gathering space characterised by an abundance of greenery and planted elements.”<\/p>\n

\"The
Green seating livens up diner-style restaurant The Grill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In line with this idea, the material palette in the courtyard and the surrounding thoroughfares maintains a touch of the outdoors, with travertine tiles used to cover all of the floors and the hotel’s reception desk, alongside informal bench seating reminiscent of street furniture.<\/p>\n

Board-formed concrete walls echo the same gridded pattern in homage to the rigid geometry of the Telegraph’s facade.<\/p>\n

Blackened metal and dark timber round out the interior’s pared-back material palette, complementing the worn-down concrete beams and columns that provide glimpses of the building’s history.<\/p>\n