Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland by OOIIO Architecture

Article source: OOIIO Architecture

In Reykjavik, Iceland capital they wanted to build a big new hotel in Ingolfstorg, a public existing plaza in Kvosin, the city historical  center, very close to the Iceland Parliament.  The program was asking for a way too big building that couldn´t work well with the existing city pattern. There are no big buildings  on this area.  OOIIO Architecture team decided to break the big hotel into 2 hotels. This decision make all the program to work much better,  not only because the size of the buildings is more suitable with the historical center, also because the client could build now the  buildings in different phases, and if he wants, use building A as a 5 stars hotel and building B as a 4 stars hotel, so the scheme is  more  flexible for its economical benefits.

Hotel in Reykjavik

• Architects: OOIIO Architecture
• Project: Hotel in Reykjavik
• Location: Reykjavik, Iceland
• Team: Joaquín Millán Villamuelas, Belén Gómez Mendiguchía, Javier Urruti a Sanchez, Kristi nn R. Ólafsson, Gema López March, Marta Cacho Guinea.

Hotel in Reykjavik

Ingolfstorg, is an existing public plaza in Reykjavik, which needs to be recycled. There are several bars, restaurants and shops, but  it is looking a bit neglected. The area, with a great location, definitely needs a clean-up. Building a new interesting hotel over there  could help on that. Unfortunately, the brief was asking to occupy most of Ingolfstorg open public space, and the city was going to  lose this open area forever.  OOIIO Architecture decided to combine the client requirements of building enough hotel space and facilities to get good economical  benefits from it, and to provide new and interesting public areas to not loose public square meters for the city.

Hotel in Reykjavik

The proposal is a combination of a good and functional hotels, restaurants and shops, mixed with very contemporary public areas,  opened to the city of Reykjavik, looking forward to become a new city attraction. This combination public + hotel and commercial  will definitely become a great profit for both, city and the hotel developer client.  All the 130 hotel rooms have natural light and ventilation, and public areas, street level and roof are well combined with commercial  spaces.  To attract even more public to this new building-open space, OOIIO Architecture decided to design a light-patio installation on the  center of the main building, that combined with the ground excavation, generates a great contemporary space able to be used as  a cultural platform for the local or international artist, where they can project any kind of light performance. It will become a space  similar to what it is now Times Square for New York or Piccadilly Circus to London, but in a new format and on a adequate scale to  Reykjavik.

Hotel in Reykjavik

The lower level on this public space can be used as a open theater, with restaurants, shops and the hotel lobby facing it, and from  it the people can take panoramic escalators that take them all the way up to the public sculptural hotel roof, where they can get a  new panoramic view from all Kvosin central Reykjavik area. All the intervention will became very quick as a new touristic attraction,  transforming the neglected existing plaza, into the best possible location for the new hotels and the existing commercial surroundings.  The hotel façade wants to indicate the singularity of the buildings and is inspired in traditional Icelandic bread. It creates a double  skin for the buildings that unify all the intervention, providing movement and texture at the same ti me that it protects from direct  sun radiation inside.

Hotel in Reykjavik

Model

Hotel in Reykjavik

Model

Drawing

Drawing

Tags: Iceland, Reykjavik

Category: Hotel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 at 11:01 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.