The Canaves resort brand is well established and extremely successful on the island of Santorini. When they approached us to design a new hotel we immediately understood the unique opportunity they had in their site, which had spectacular views of the famous sunset, without the spatial restrictions of the often cramped sites within the Caldera. The Canaves Oia Epitome is the first hotel in this part of the island to offer open, light-filled space with unrestricted views.
Our first task was to find a way to work with the imposing concrete and brick structure that already existed on the site, without affecting the overall built area. The planned hotel was relatively big for the island, with 24 rooms arranged, along with a restaurant and reception, in 3 linear blocks that together created a U-shaped plan. The massing felt awkwardly big and disconnected to the landscape. So we began breaking it up into several smaller parts and then redistributing them around the site, allowing them space to breathe within their surroundings.
The reconstitution of the timeline shows that, in fact, we are not facing a building, but two buildings that have evolved into a single building. The initial building may have been erected in the late 14th or 15th centuries. Surely, it could only have been erected only after the “opening” of Rua Nova, or Rua Formosa (now Rua do Infante), ordered by D. João I (1357-1433). During the period “almadino” gained this neoclassical facade. In the twentieth century the pair Carlos Loureiro and Padua Ramos designed a modernist staircase of extreme elegance. When it came to us, all we had to do was to respect all these layers that had struck a remarkable balance there. It was a bank. Before that there were many things: offices, insurance firms, warehouse. Someone’s house in the early days. Now it’s a hotel. We do not know tomorrow. We know, however, that whoever comes next will continue to be able to recognize this timeline in the building. And if all goes well, you will not realize that we were there.
The extraordinary natural surroundings of the peninsula of Baja California with its semi-desert landscape in shades of ocher, contrasting with the deep blue of the Sea of Cortes, provides an ideal selected context for the construction of a new landmark hotel for the country.
Celebrating the integration between landscape, architecture and art, Solaz Los Cabos covers a total area of 9.8 hectares along a section of the coast that includes unique topographical formations. The architectural concept was guided by this need for the proper integration of the construction into its surroundings, achieved through the use of organic forms that refer to the movement of the waves, producing an attractive series of volumes that are adapted to the location. The selection of materials, planting and construction methods reinforce this concept of integration, and were meticulously studied to ensure they would suit this beautiful site.
Location: San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Photography: Rafael Gamo
Design Manager: Alejandro Espejel, Cándido Hernández, Luis Pucheta
Design Team: Iovany Fuentes, David Pazos, Miguel Baranda, Marco Pucheta, Santiago García de Letona, Giordana Rojas, Daniela Camarena, Carlos Nuñez, Francisco Barrera
Article source: gmp · Architekten von Gerkan, Marg und Partner
A new high-rise building makes its impact on the skyline of Hangzhou, the Chinese metropolis with 9 million inhabitants. The 130-meter-high tower is part of the extension and redesign of the GDA Plaza, a business center in the traditional business quarter of the city, which includes a shopping mall and hotel. Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), who had previously won the competition, were in charge of the design and implementation.
West Lake is considered a focal point and special attraction of the old, traditional city of Hangzhou. Its exemplary cultivated landscape is an outstanding feature of this 9-million-person metropolis to the south-west of Shanghai and, in 2011, was designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. At Wulin Square, in the midst of the flourishing business center not far from the lake, the GDA Plaza Hotel and Business Center was reopened. As part of a redesign and extension, the existing complex with hotel and shopping mall was recreated and made into a completely new unit. The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), who had previously won the competition in 2007, were in charge of the design and implementation. At one cor-ner, the GDA Plaza was substantially extended by a new 28-story building with a gross floor area of 57,500 square meters, whilst the existing main building was retained as far as possible but completely reorganized. This has created additional offices and commercial premises, as well as new leisure facilities such as cinemas and restaurants.
Design: Meinhard von Gerkan and Nikolaus Goetze with Magdalene Weiss
Project Leader Competition: Jörn Ortmann
Competition Design Team: Jan Blasko, Cai Lei, Cheng Ying, Sun Ya-jin, Zhu Honghao
Project Leader Detail Design: Chen Ying, Fan Xiaodi, Huang Meng
Detail Design Team: Mareike Asmus, Jiang Yi, Kong Rui, Claudius Lange, Mao Yuqi, Alexander Schober, Martin Seibel, Sun Ya-jin, Tian Jinghai, Wang Qing, Zhao Chonghan
From an exclusive hotel proposal, Greenhouse, at Felissimo Exclusive Hotel in Balneário Camboriú, aims to link architecture and nature through the available technologies, sustainability principles and the harnessing of the local conditions.
Through a simplified implantation that respects the steep slope of the terrain, the building, inserted in the intermmediate level of the gap, can be accessed by a side staircase, which explains by itself the criteria of implantation of the building. From the stairs, the access occurs by the lower level, starting from the lawn parking, or by the roof level, which is completely covered by vegetation to soften internal temperatures.
The hotel features 162 rooms, an all-day dining restaurant, a rooftop infinity pool, events pavilion and terrace, and a vibrant Victorian dining and retail arcade.
The first of its kind in Penang, The Prestige Hotel is a destination in itself offering an authentic travel experience and is part of the prestigious Design Hotels™ portfolio.
The Prestige Hotel is located in Georgetown, set amongst the beautiful and intricate 19th century English colonial buildings found in this UNESCO World Heritage site.
Had you visited the Paris Court in downtown Budapest only a handful of years ago, you’d have met with a significantly different impression. Darkened corners, rusted metalwork and damage from the tumultuous wartime events that shook Europe in the 20th Century all combined to make for an architectural sight that was at once historically rich yet in many ways a shadow of its former glory. In fact, it was a popular destination for filmmakers, who saw the opportunity to leverage the combination of the ornate passageway and limited natural light for covert undercover meetings in spy films – such as 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Over the last three years, a partnership between interior design studio KROKI and architecture studio ARCHIKON has worked to revive the downtown location, restoring the dark and damaged arcade to a decorated landmark that introduces proper lighting to its intricate details for the first time in its history.
The goal was first to restore the historical features of the central passageway, which is now open to the public as it had been prior to its disrepair. This meant maintaining the unique facades and decorative elements of the building that its creator, Henrik Schmahl, had designed it with when it was built at the beginning of the 1900s. Glimpses of Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau and Moorish aesthetics can be spotted throughout the covered space. The myriad details that once decorated the passageway is a rarity across Europe, and so when work started it was essential that these same features were restored and maintained to their previous, ornate glory.
“It was an honor to work on such an important corner and intersection in Seattle. The project is adjacent to one of the city’s most important cultural institutions – Pike Place Market – and so even today with all the changes Seattle has experienced, the area still carries a little of the Seattle I recall when I moved here in 1974.” ―Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA
Located in the heart of downtown Seattle, 100 Stewart Hotel & Apartments serves as a contemporary landmark that visually and physically responds to the surrounding urban context. The site is situated adjacent to the historic Pike Place Market District and is neighbored by a range of buildings that represent Seattle’s rich history. For that reason, one of the primary architectural considerations of the project was the scale of the new structure and its relationship to smaller, older buildings in the surrounding area. The site’s position at a major axial grid shift―where First Avenue bends to meet the city’s topography―also presented a unique opportunity to mark this significant intersection and act as a gateway between neighborhoods.
Located in the historic neighborhood of Las Letras, Madrid and surrounded by other iconic buildings, one can find the1852 house-palace where Cool Rooms is situated. It is number 34 of the well known calle de Atocha.
Inspiration comes for the idea of selling a dream; this is, turning the palace into the best of our homes.
The Place, like its name, brands itself as a hotel that creates a unique visitor experienced that embodies the specific identity of each place. This specificity of place is central to Mecanoo’s “People, Place, Purpose” design philosophy, which emphasizes users, a holistic understanding of the social, historical and physical context, and a response to current and future building functions. For each assignment, our goal is to seek out the secret of the location to create a unique design that strengthens the distinct identity of the context.
In keeping with this design philosophy, Mecanoo’s interiors for The Place hotels in other cities all embody a unique sense of place: The Place in Tainan reinterprets the historic city’s rich streetscape; in Yilan, the hotel is located in the National Center for Traditional Arts and draws its inspiration from local craftsmanship. By contrasting old and new, mixing of west and east, the hotel becomes a contemporary interpretation of a traditional art form.
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