Architect Hugo Toro on Creating Atmosphere
From Gilded Age mansions to metropolitan dining rooms, Hugo Toro infuses his projects with hints of bygone eras and modern sensibilities.
Architect and designer Hugo Toro mines his past for inspiration, creating warm, intricate spaces, whether they be commercial or residential. “I have a photographic memory, and many memories that feed my work. My head is like a mood board,” he says.
Toro was born in the Lorraine region of France, to a French father and Mexican mother, and grew up close to his paternal grandfather, who worked in coal and railroads. “When he was babysitting, he would show us photos of train cars, which certainly explains my taste for travel,” says Toro.
The young designer’s parents encouraged his creative inclinations, and his mother was a fan of artists such as Luis Barragán and Frida Kahlo. “My mother always told me to be very open to her culture. I am Franco-Mexican without ever having lived in Mexico...it was as if I had through her,” he says. “She allowed me to redo my room every year, and paint and write on the walls.
Toro studied at Penninghen in Paris before going on to a master’s in architecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and also studied in Los Angeles. Now the head of his own eponymous Paris-based agency, Toro works on restaurants, hotels, and residences around the world, including Villa Albertine in New York and the Orient Express hotel in Rome.
The designer speaks with L’OFFICIEL about these projects and more, from his time as a student to creating his own line of furniture.
L’OFFICIEL: Tell us about your time at school.
HUGO TORO: When you first come out of school, you’re supposed to orient yourself overnight. It’s a little disturbing. Knowing that I wanted to do a master’s, I passed the Vienna exam. This school is known for having a star instructor in each of its studios—in fashion, they had Karl Lagerfeld as well as Hussein Chalayan; in architecture, we had Zaha Hadid and Greg Lynn. There were 200 of us who applied. Three were selected, and I was one of them.
One professor asked us to study the Hermès Foundation in Tokyo—we were simply sent for about 20 days to the Japanese capital. We also exhibited at the Venice Biennale and traveled around the world between Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Beijing, and Shanghai. While Penninghen is a highly structured, standardized school, Vienna [encourages students to take a deeper approach]; each project took much more time. We also had a 3D printer and ceramic workshop; we were taught to weld brass and cut wood.
L’O: Is sketching a big part of your process?
HT: Ninety-five percent of my projects are drawn. I need that to express myself. And at the same time, I’m a geek. I love technology. I appreciate Otto Wagner’s work as much as that of Adolf Floss. I’m as drawn to Zaha Hadid as I am to Luis Barragán or John Lautner.
I draw everything that comes to my head, which helps me think. I’m always working on several projects at the same time. I like things that are perennial. I also have this nomadic side in terms of references, which I then mix and make my own.
L’O: You were selected to do the historic remodel of Villa Albertine in New York, an artists’ residence at the Payne Whitney Mansion supported by the French Ministry of Culture. How were you inspired by the history of the building?
HT: I like this patchwork of references, from heraldry to the Renaissance. What’s interesting about this project is having to find a way to bring the past and the present together in a space that was completely stripped of all its vestiges in the 1950s
As I read the poems of Helen Hay Whitney [the poet, sculptor, and philanthropist who called the mansion home], I pictured this woman with a certain melancholy about the nature of Central Park from her windows. That was the narrative starting point for this project.
L’O: Mobilier National [a French cultural institution that furnishes the official spaces of the French Republic, and houses a historic collection of design objects and decorative art] worked closely with you on the project. How was that collaboration?
HT: The lounge [of Villa Albertine] is also a reception space for dinners between residents or conferences for the President of the Republic. I was able to select all the furniture I wanted, except for three rooms that were already at the Élysée Palace—it seems that I have the same tastes as Madame Macron. [Smiles.] But I was able to get the lamps from [former president] François Mitterrand’s office—without knowing that they were his. In addition to the furniture, I designed a carpet, recreated the fireplace, integrated panels hand-painted in cracked lacquer, and carved wooden doors. The ceiling appears very medieval, so I didn’t want to confine myself to a single time period.
L’O: You have also recently completed a few bars and restaurants in London [the Midland Grand Dining Room, Gothic Bar, and Booking Office 1869]. What do you like about these projects as opposed to hotels and residences?
HT: I’m a super-active person who gets bored very quickly. I like to work on different types of projects that don’t last too long; that’s why I do a lot of restaurants. I do not have a minimal style and I like that there are accidents. I like to create atmospheres like a theater scene. My projects are like chapters in a book: there’s a little bit of me, but I like to adapt the style.
L’O: You were chosen to design the Orient Express hotel in Rome, which opens at the end of 2024. What is the idea behind your design?
HT: The idea of a train journey is already in me, certainly thanks to my grandfather. The strength of Orient Express is you are allowed to have a crazy imagination. We all know what the Orient Express is without knowing what it is; the brand can land in Constantinople as well as in Paris. In the hotel, about 40 percent will reference Orient Express codes, and everything else will revolve around Rome. So there are the characteristics of the city through the finishes that had to be reworked to avoid the pastiche of the past, and making the hotel contemporary was my stake in the project.
L’O: Tell us about your residential project on the rue des Saints-Pères.
HT: Though more or less like a bachelor pad, I imagined the entrance in a monastic way with a sink in the entrance, like my grandmother’s. I covered the floors in red travertine, discovered hidden stained-glass windows that I restored, and had all the woodwork painted white with a gradient patina. I dressed the walls of the bedroom with dried tobacco leaves—everything has been tailor-made. I never erase the character of a place; I rework it.
L’O: You have also designed furniture with the gallery Kolkhoze. Will you create more?
HT: Four pieces have been presented, but we made 12, so we will release the rest very soon, and there will certainly be a second collection. This collection was inspired by Mexico, but also by Art Nouveau, which comes from my father-in-law, whose family lived in a Majorelle house in Nancy.
