Design

Ensemble Makes Its Debut with New-Build Hotel in Scottsdale, Restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Boston

Scott Miller, Andrés Lamos, Nicole Campion, Chris Johnson, and Candace Hickman join forces at the new studio based in New York, Los Angeles, and Palm Beach

By Jesse Dorris

April 1, 2026

Hotel pool at sunset with lounge chairs and umbrellas lining the poolside, surrounded by palm trees. — Rendering of the pool at The Paradise Valley Hotels & Casitas. Photo: Courtesy of Ensemble

As global director of AvroKO, the New York firm whose CV that ranged wildly from sexy, swanky mall restaurants to post-John Pawson brutalist Bay Area hotels, Scott Miller helped shape the form of 21st-century hospitality design. But some two decades into his career, he saw something lacking in the sector. “The gap between luxury hospitality and the rest of the market is widening faster than ever, with the number of hotels positioning themselves at the top having tripled in the last five years,” he tells Galerie. “And yet, much of that new supply lacks conviction, and are simply drawing from the same playbook.”

Group of five people, three standing and two seated, dressed in dark clothing against a plain background, smiling at the camera. — Scott Miller, Nicole Campion, Chris Johnson, Candace Hickman, and Andrés Lamos form Ensemble. Photo: Courtesy of Ensemble.

He began talking to colleagues like Auberge Resort Collection’s design director Nicole Campion, and Chris Johnson, who led design for Union Square Hospitality Group. They shared his desire to rewrite the rules. As did Candace Hickman, former design director of the Americas for Soho House. “She has an instinct for spaces where people want to gather and belong,” Miller says. The next piece of the puzzle was AvroKO’s own Andrés Lamos. “He brings both architectural rigor and a narrative-driven approach to design, having also worked at firms such as Pelli Clarke Pelli and Meyer Davis,” he says. The quintet forms the heart of Ensemble, a new studio based in New York, Los Angeles, and Palm Beach.

Luxurious hotel lobby with elegant seating, warm lighting, and large windows showcasing a sunset view. — Lobby at The Paradise Valley Hotels & Casitas. Photo: Courtesy of Ensemble

Initial projects include The Paradise Valley Hotels & Casitas, a new-build hotel in Scottsdale slated to open in 2027. “It’s one of the most coveted addresses in the American West,” Miller says, “but until now there has not been a hospitality experience that reflects the caliber of the community.” Ensemble seeks to change that. Hickman calls the 90-key boutique hotel “a contemporary, dream-washed interpretation of Southwestern ranch living.” A sculptural reception desk offers a connection between the firepits glowing throughout the courtyard after dark and the crackling indoor fireplace, one of Scottsdale’s very few. “It draws on the romance of the desert estate,” Hickman says, “with low-slung architecture, a seamless relationship between indoors and out, and a style of luxury that feels deeply connected to place.”

Luxurious spa relaxation area with comfortable reclining chairs, soft lighting, and privacy curtains. — Rendering of a treatment room at The Paradise Valley Hotels & Casitas. Photo: Courtesy of Ensemble

That faith in site-specificity informs another project soon to open, A-Street Hospitality’s new restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Boston. “It faces the historic Boston Public Garden, which is the east end of the string of public parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, famously known as The Emerald Necklace,” explains Lamos, who brings the verdant local into the project through burl wood panels and colorways of varied greens, golden ambers, and late autumnal ochres.

Stylish dimly lit bar with green chairs, marble tables, and a stocked bar in the background. — Rendering of A-Street Hospitality’s new restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Boston. Photo: Courtesy of Ensemble

“Boston’s Back Bay deserves a dining destination that matches the caliber of the neighborhood itself—a place where the experience feels as considered as the cuisine,” says Eric Papachristos, Co-Founder & CEO of A Street Hospitality. “We believe there is room for something that elevates the evening without pretense, where every detail has been thought through but nothing feels forced. That is the space we intend to fill.”

Luxurious modern bar interior with stylish lighting, patterned wall panels, and elegant seating arrangement. — Rendering of A-Street Hospitality’s new restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Boston. Photo: Courtesy of Ensemble

The project travels through Papachristos’s fascination with Orient Express trains. “The principal of retro-future transit provided us with a distinct visual vocabulary that bridges the opulent craftsmanship of the past with the sleek, aspirational lines of the future,” Lamos says. The result is a series of rooms within rooms, which connect passages through luxury train cars to the experience of Chef Jody Adams’ tasting menus.

Dimly lit, elegant restaurant interior with plush seating, patterned flooring, and ambient lighting fixtures. — Rendering of A-Street Hospitality’s new restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Boston. Photo: Courtesy of Ensemble

The new studio’s ability to embody these specific inspirations is, Miller says, what will set their projects apart from the crowd. “When every designer and every client is drawing from the same algorithmic feed of references, the output converges. The surest way to combat that is to put people together who have extraordinary taste and give them room to collaborate their way to something that could not come from a single hand.” The work, in other words, only an Ensemble could do.