Individual floors at The Silken Group’s Hotel Puerta América are fitted-out by different world-renowned architects, including Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid, John Pawson, and Ushida Findlay. The Foster vision for the second floor was inspired by the work of the late Basque sculptor, Eduardo Chillida, who was a personal friend of both the client and Lord Foster. Chillida’s work explored natural materials, organic forms, and an architectural sense of space – concerns which are reworked in the Foster scheme to create a design concept founded on simplicity, function and luxury.
Chillida’s treatment of space as a material to mould, and the interplay between positive and negative space, has been echoed in the sculptural quality of the hotel rooms and corridors. A sequence of top-lit, circular glass drums lines the corridor and punctuates it with a chain of illuminated ellipses. These drums become the central elements that link the corridor with the interior of the rooms. Continuing into the bedrooms, the glass elegantly curves around the integrated shower area, creating a subtle partition. The washbasins sit on a glowing onyx shelf that sweeps out to the full length of the room, forming an elegant connection between the two areas. The shelf embodies the flexibility of this multi-use living area: it is a desk, a wash stand and a dressing table.
The design appeals to all the senses and uses Chillida’s natural material palette, with warm cream and brown colours. The leather wall panelling is sumptuous and tactile, further adding to the impression of quality and luxury. Conceived as an ‘urban sanctuary,’ the Foster + Partners’ designed suites will offer a luxurious respite from Madrid’s frenetic bustle.
