With 11 new or upcoming properties in the works, The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group continues to expand at an astonishing rate. It’s newest opening is just one more example of its talent for sniffing out prime locations in happening neighbourhoods. Against a muscular backdrop of the San Jacinto mountains and just steps from the Palm Springs Art Museum, the 153-room Rowan is contained within a modern seven-storey new build, by West Coast firms ACRM Architects + Interiors and DesignARC, that is the crowning glory of Downtown Palm Springs’ decade-long regeneration project.
The building itself, is a contemporary reference to the area’s modernism roots, with angular lines, expansive glass windows, wide overhangs, three dimensional lemon-yellow pop-out boxes, and a sleek roofline that cuts across the rugged desert landscape. This leads to soaring, light-filled interiors, which the Kimpton Design Team, together with Powerstrip Studio, have dressed with low-slung furnishings and custom art installations, such as the 16-foot macramé owl behind the front desk, in a creamy neutral and timber palette punctuated by cool whites, blues, greens and geometric patterns.
With two pools, two bars, and complimentary bicycles at hand, diversions are aplenty, but it’s the rooftop destination that is drawing all the attention. At 4 Saints restaurant, the hotel’s executive chef Stephen Wambach serves up modern bites such as foie gras bread & butter or lobster tortellini, but we suggest heading to High Bar – the city’s only rooftop pool bar – where you can sip on a cachaça cocktail with avocado oil while indulging in painted sunset hues over the Coachella Valley. §
