August 03, 2006

The Puerta America Hotel. Make a list of the biggest names in architecture and design. Then let them each design a floor of your hotel. Will it work?

There's a bunch of interesting ideas in there, but it's still not perfect. The hotel as a destination or fame over function? Here's what the NY Times thinks. (reg. req.) And here's what some other people who've been there think. What do you think? And what's your favourite floor?

posted by [MR]Chip 18 years ago
  • Awful place to wake up with a bad hangover.
  • Very neat - and yet somehow they all sort of look the same . . . I'd prefer a hotel where every floor is a different era, including future ones . . .
  • Looks like design is still stuck in mid-century modern knock offs, with a few exceptions. You can be influenced by Eames, Knoll, Wegner, but stop just ripping them off. I will consult my oracle on how to face this affront to my sensibilities and get back to you.
  • Yah, yah, yah. Nothing new under the sun.
  • A lot of the complaints I've heard are that this kind of dream team design is a lot like competitions. Get a bunch of designers together and they should at least come up with something decent. Doesn't express a lot of confidence in the profession. But most of the designs here are a bit disappointing. They got a blank cheque and no restrictions whatsoever. And since the hotel is supposed to be the attraction itself (it's not at a particularly good location or anything), you'd think they'd go wild. But somehow many of them have just done what they always do. They're showing off their style and nothing more. And some are just showing why interior design isn't taken very seriously. It's just bed, table, chair, lamp but a bit more expensive bed, table, chair, lamp. That's why I prefer the fourth and eighth floors. They at least look like they've gone wild and ran with it. But the fact that some of the biggest names in the business came up with this result might explain the lack of confidence mentioned above.
  • I would have preferred a theme room hotel. The moon room The caveman room The whip cream room The 20 lashings room The foam party room
  • You mean something like Hotel Fox in Copenhagen?
  • Holy Crap that place blows the Puerta America away.
  • There you have it. Big names with blank cheques beaten by penniless prodigies with pretty pictures!