CubeMe » Hotel

‘Kameha Bay Portals,’ Hotel in Mallorca by Tec Architecture & Marcel Wanders

Ian — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:30:18 +0000

Tec Architecture and interior designer, Marcel Wanders, have teamed up again to create Kameha Bay Portals, a high-style luxury resort hotel in Mallorca, Spain. A little over a full year away from completion, Kameha Bay Portals has recently been admitted by the Leading Hotels of the World into its exclusive hotel association – and I thought you might be interested in taking a peek.

Located on the south coast of the sunny Spanish isle, and within walking distance of the exclusive yacht harbour Puerto Portals, this resort will offer its guests warm service, exclusivity, and a truly unique ambience when it opens its doors in early 2013. The interplay of hotel and nature paired with the highest standards of ecological sustainability and energy efficiency are particularly important in the resort’s design. Because of this, the development of the Kameha Bay Portals will involve a ‘green building’, which, with its own sandy beach and access to a small bay, will blend perfectly into the natural surroundings.

In accordance with the Kameha philosophy of anticipating and catering to the most diverse wishes of the guests, the Kameha Bay Portals will keep transforming its design based on the theme of the changing seasons, a design concept by Marcel Wanders.

Currently planned are 64 rooms and suites between 36 and 240 m² that will extend to the main building and the beach. Spa treatments, holistic programs, and water sports are just a few of the activities one can anticipate from the Kameha Bay Portals resort.

Inspiring architecture by tec Architecture has met the extraordinary interior design of Marcel Wanders and in doing so has created one of the new favourite locations in Mallorca. For Sebastian Knorr, CEO of the tec Architecture architectural firm, the interplay of hotel and nature and the highest standards of ecological sustainability and energy efficiency are particularly important in the design. Because of this, the development of the Kameha Bay Portals will involve a ‘green building’, which, with its own sandy beach and access to a small bay, will blend perfectly into the natural surroundings. The investment volume amounts to 50 million Euros.

In accordance with the Kameha philosophy of anticipating guests’ wishes and catering to the most diverse wishes of the guests, the Kameha Bay Portals will keep transforming -‐ like a chameleon. Based on the theme ‘changing seasons’, the design concept by Marcel Wanders is in line with the seasons: in summer, light fabrics and bright colours dominate, while in winter warm colours have an inviting ‘cocooning’ effect.

Balancing Barn by MVRDV

Shan Tara — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:43:46 +0000

Living Architecture and Dutch firm MVRDV, present the design for the Balancing Barn, a cantilevered holiday home near the village of Thorington in Suffolk.

From the road, the barnisalmost invisible; the front being only 7 metres wide, with a pitched roof, faces the long straight driveway approach, suggesting a small house with a traditional shape. The volume, however, has a length of 30 metres. At the midpoint it starts to cantilever over the descending slope; a balancing act made possible by the rigid structure of the building; resulting in 50% of the barn being in free space, and giving a wide view over the Suffolk landscape, adjacent lake and surrounding gardens. The long sides of the structure are well hidden by trees allowing privacy inside and around the barn. The exterior is covered in a reflective material, resulting in the barn changing its exterior by reflecting the seasons.

The inspiration for Living Architecture came from a desire for people to be able to experience what it is like to live, eat and sleep in a space designed by an outstanding architectural practice. Whilst there are examples of great modern buildings in Britain, they tend to be in places that one passes through (eg. airports, museums, offices), and the few modern houses that exist are almost all in private hands and cannot be visited. Living Architecture will start to open its houses for holiday rentals in the spring of 2010.

The Living Architecture team comprises of chairman, Dickon Robinson, director, Mark Robinson and executive architect, Meredith Bowles (Mole Architects). The advisory team are Stuart Lipton, property developer, ex chairman CABE; Tom Bloxham, chairman of Urban Splash; Ambassador Alexis Lautenberg, Swiss ambassador to the UK; Michael Morris, co-director of Artangel; Alain de Botton, writer and architectural critic and Peter Rogers, director of Stanhope.

+ Living Architecture

‘La Maison Champs-Elysées,’ Hotel by Martin Margiela

Ian — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:47:17 +0000

‘Maison Champs-Elysées’ hotel is located at 8 Jean Goujon in the eighth district has commissioned Maison Martin Margiela redecorates the suites, restaurant, smoking room, bar and reception area into a surreal atmosphere.

La Maison Champs-Elysees combines modern and traditional aesthetics. One of the two buildings of the hotel was built in Napoleon era, formerly a private residence shared by the French Emperor and his wife Eugénie de Montijo’s from 1864 to 1989.

The hotel especially invited Belgium fashion house Maison Martin Margiela to re-design the interior of its seventeen suites, restaurant, lounge bar, smoking room and reception area.
From the floor, ceiling, wall, furniture, ceramic, lighting, window, carpet, mirror to individual art piece display, Maison Martin Margiela is responsible for the overall rennovation. Merging the real and surreal, trompe-loei is a key design element this time.

With white as the main palette, featuring English parquet in aged oak, trompe-loei wallpaper and cloth-wrapped objects are signature Margiela style. Highlight pieces in the restaurant include Louis XV , Louis XVI Salon, Louis XV Lyre Back and Louis XVI Medallion Back chairs, a reminder that this was once a historic site. This collaboration is the biggest interior project for Maison Martin Margiela to this date, and a much welcomed contemporary addition in Paris.

The Cabin, Tree House by Mårten Cyrén

Shan Tara — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:54:49 +0000

This new treehouse by Swedish architects Cyrén & Cyrén is a capsule cabin accessible via a footbridge leading to a spacious public deck open for anyone passing by.The Cabin hangs from the trees and has a roof terrace overlooking the forest. The deck is slightly separated from the building in order to make it appear smaller and also provide a possibility of giving the building its own expression.

The architects played around with the angles and rounded off the corners lengthwise. It now looks like a or cabin, an expression we feel comfortable with. This project is one of the rooms of the
Tree Hotel in Harads, northern Sweden.

The Scarlet, Boutique Hotel in Carnwalls by Harrison Sutton Partnership & Bauwerk

Hans — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:51:25 +0000

Located on the scenic cliffs of Cornwall, the 5-star Scarlet boutique hotel incorporates luxury and a close affinity to nature.The Scarlet team had a very clear idea of the ‘wow’ factor they wanted to create with the new hotel and chose the architect team at the Harrison Sutton Partnership and the building team Bauwerk to help them realise this dream. Sustainability is guaranteed by the use of durable materials, selected for their eco-friendly luxury and remarkable natural views in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The 37 rooms look out over the cliffs onto the Atlantic Ocean. Each features a private outdoor space in the form of balcony, courtyard garden terrace, or rooftop pod. A restorative hotel spa serves as a quiet, almost spiritual sanctuary for relaxation. There is a room full of tented, lantern-lit and cocoon-like hanging pods.

The spa includes a sauna, Hammam, meditation room, natural reed-filtered pool, and two log-fired seaweed hot tubs perfect for outdoor stargazing at the cliff’s edge. The Scarlet restaurant is headed by Michelin award-winning local chef Ben Tunnicliffe, whose hearty dishes are surprising without being pretentious.

Menus change daily to take full advantage of seasonal local ingredients at their best, and a comprehensive wine list features daily selections to complement Tunnicliffe’s magnificent creations. A low-key deli menu and Cornish afternoon tea can be served anywhere throughout the premises for an in-between snack.

Rock it Suda, Six Houses by Hoon Moon

Shan Tara — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 08:10:10 +0000

Breaking the boundaries of simple architecture, Hoon Moon, Korean architect gave birth to Rock It Suda, a guesthouse with six bedrooms, each characterized by a specific theme: From Barbie to Ferrari, from Spain to the caves to finish with traditional Korean style. The six different ways to capture the landscape inspired Moon, who decided to give birth to the Same Spatial Concentration of Expansion and Compression reasoning on issues completely dissociated from the context such as Spain, Barbie, Stealth, Ferrari, Caves and Traditional Korean Style.

The hotel is located on the outskirts of Jeongseon in South Korea, on the banks of a river and has magnificent views over the mountains surrounding it.

Rock It Suda
Hoon Moon

Hütten Palast, Boutique Hotel by Silke Lorenzen & Sarah Vollmer

Hans — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:40:17 +0000

A boutique hotel in Berlin, which offers rooms equipped with a small oldschool caravan completely renovated, allowing guests to experience the cozy camping feeling, without the bugs and in the middle of a vibrant city.

Hütten Palast, translated as ‘Huts at the Palace’ located in the Neukölln district of the city can probably claim to be the first hotel to offer caravans as part of its choice of rooms available. A 200m ‘indoor playground’ provides guests with the opportunity to experience the feel of a rural campsite while in the confines of a converted factory in the heart of a major European city. The building, just over 100 years old, has now been renovated with rustic wooden huts and caravans dotted around the charming room.

Ms Lorenzen said their intention was to create an atmosphere where ‘people actually met each other and not only got a key at reception and disappeared in their rooms forever.’

Hütten Palast
Via [Daily Mail] & [Trendsnow]

The Bird’s Nest by Inredningsgruppen

Shan Tara — Tue, 31 May 2011 06:42:52 +0000

Sweden’s boreal forest has a new addition to its seven beautifully incongruous structures that that constitute Treehotel, an innovative project conceived by husband and wife team Britta Jonsson-Lindvall and Kent Lindvall.

The Bird’s Nest , designed by Bertil Harström of Inredningsgruppen intended to establish a dramatic contrast between the exterior and interior. From outside the cabin looks like a large nest, with only the scale distinguishing it from other more conventional birds’ nests in the forest. Small porthole windows are hidden by the thicket of branches. Inside is a highly designed space, lined in timber like coachwork panels. The bedroom is a separated by sliding doors. Access to The Nest is by a retractable staircase.

Lord South Beach Hotel by BH+DM

Shan Tara — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:34:14 +0000

Appropriately oriented and situated in the heart of South Beach on Collins Avenue, Lords South Beach is the first gay hotel brand to open in the US and the vanguard for the modern gay boutique hotel. Sexy, chic, affordable, and fun, it raises the bar for what the discerning gay traveler can expect from a hotel. With 54 rooms, three plunge pools and a variety of exciting hotel venues.

The hotel worked with Out magazine to develop a Concierge App listing top local LGBT hot spots, asked Levi’s to custom-design its gray and white jean uniforms, and is preparing to launch its own social network so guests can check one another out.

Lords is taking over the Nash Hotel’s space — “morphing into a sleek, stylish and sexy look,” said Brian Gorman, the founder. Playful too: a 9-foot tall fiberglass polar bear holding a beach ball will greet visitors in the lobby.

BH+DM

L-and Houses in Alentejo, Portugal by Marcio Kogan

Shan Tara — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:11:13 +0000

Our favorite architect Marcio Kogan from Studio MK27 has designed this amazing resort called L-and Houses in Alentejo, Portugal. As usual with Marcio Kogan, the proportions and the choice of the materials are just perfect in their simplicity.

Qing Shui Wan Spa Hotel, in Shenyang, China by Nota Design International

Shan Tara — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:51:22 +0000

Qing Shui Wan is a high-end hot spring and spa club with hotel rooms located in downtown Shenyang. This is a 3 store building with a sprawling area of 7000 sqm per floor.
First store consists of solely the main reception hall/ foyer and the hot-springs. The hot springs area is divided into 2 main zone for the different genders.Second store houses 184 seater Japanese Restaurant, in-house buffet area, a VIP buffet restaurant, a cinema lounge, rest lounges, tea appreciation areas, a hair saloon, and massage rooms.

Third store houses the flagship spa with 41 massage rooms, 23 majong rooms, 14 treatment rooms, 2 Turkish Bath, and 24 hotel rooms. The designers are tasked with the Interior Architecture as well as the facade design.

Nota Design International

Cubic Boutique Hotel by Sergey Makhno & Vasiliy Butenko

Hans — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:45:08 +0000

Cubic Boutique Hotel by Sergey Makhno & Vasiliy Butenko is rather gorgeous and not boring at all. Its lighting may well be compared to an object of art. The boutique hotel is snuggled into a green hillside, and extends out to the sands of the Dead Sea. On one side, a gorse-covered mountain closely approaches the hotel, on the other side it stands near the coastline of the Black sea.

The hotel itself seems to extend a natural relief of a mountain standing behind it with its structure of polished concrete. Austerity of outdoor attire of concrete, steel and glass is camouflaged with almost homeliness of rooms – a wide cozy bed, Corian furniture designed for this hotel, designer’s light, a TV-set as well as Internet connection.

Santorini Grace Hotel

Shan Tara — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 04:29:17 +0000

Located in the beautiful setting of Imerovigli in the northwest of the island, high above the Caldera, the Grace Santorini is the perfect vantage point from which to view the famed Santorini sunsets that envelop the Aegean Sea, and the Cyclades Islands.

This graceful boutique property with its individually styled suites and rooms, appeals to those seeking a relaxing and romantic escape.

The hotel has two beautiful swimming pools including a new infinity pool offering uninterrupted views.

There are 20 rooms total at the Santorini Grace and all face the same direction for optimal views. Some have private plunge pools, some are honeymoon suites with his and hers sinks in the bathroom. The hotel is sprawled out over several different levels playing on the “cave” aesthetic.

While there are nooks and alcoves for privacy, there is a general communal vibe amongst everyone lounging by the pool, or the bars, or in the restaurant. Only recently opened in 2009, The Santorini Grace has already been given many accolades and awards: Shortlisted in the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2011, Included in Tatler Travel Guide’s 101 Best Hotels in the World, 2011, Shortlisted for The European Hotel Design Awards, 2010, Selected for Conde Nast Traveller’s Hot List of the World’s Best New Hotels, 2009, and at the World Travel Awards, it won Greece’s Leading Boutique of 2009.

Name of project: Grace Santorini Hotel
Project address: Imerovigli, Santorini 84700, Greece
Architects: Divercity & mplusm
Principal Architects: Divercity – Nikolas Travasaros // Mplusm – Memos Filippidis / Marita Nikoloutsou
Dates of design: 2007-2008
Dates of construction: 2008- 2009
Total plot area: 1,033.72 m2
Total building area: 621.23 m2
Client: Grace Hotels Group
Interior Designers: Divercity & mplusm
space consultant: Sophia Vantaraki
Photographers: ©Erieta Attali & ©Serge Detalle
Via [Yatzer]

Giraffe Manor, Nairobi Africa

Shan Tara — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:20:13 +0000

Giraffe Manor is a small hotel in the Lang’ata suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. Together with its related Giraffe Centre, serves as a home to several endangered Rothschild giraffes, as well as operating a breeding program which reintroduces breeding pairs back into the wild.The Giraffe Manor is surrounded by 140 acres of indigenous forest just outside Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. It is home to giraffe and many species of birds, large families of warthogs and the elusive Bush Buck.

The Giraffe Manor offers five double bedrooms, immaculately furnished in the style of their day, with large four-poster beds, antique furnishings and striking art deco bathrooms. Each of the six luxury rooms offer en suite facilities, and sumptuous surroundings. Guests enjoy evening cocktails in front of the fireplace before a delicious gourmet dinner.

Giraffe Manor, Nairobi Africa

Nobis Hotel by Claesson Koivisto Rune

Shan Tara — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:26:03 +0000

Claesson Koivisto Rune has recently designed the interior of the Nobis Hotel located in two historic late 19th-century buildings on Norrmalmstorg square in the heart of downtown Stockholm, Sweden. Designed with a holistic attitude, together with a certain amount of eccentricity, Nobis Hotel is a contemporary 5-star hotel.

The extravagant Gold Bar, the French-inspired 24/7 bistro, the generous lounge, the Italian trattoria Caina on the floor below, the relax area clad entirely in marble and the conference section with its original wooden paneling preserved have each been given a distinctly different character. Despite this, each space flows into the next so that the spatial context is strong.

The colour scheme and lighting design is also warm and subdued throughout. We call it Scandinavian dark blond. Another recurring theme is subtle patterns, in many cases derived from our own abstracted architectural drawings. Like the corridor carpeting and the wallpaper in the conference section.

Apart from the fixed interior features like, for example, the reception desk in rusted shipping steel, a large number of new furniture designs, textiles and lamps have been developed specifically for the hotel.

The Nobis Hotel offers 201 rooms including 69 standard double rooms, 99 Superior rooms, 22 Deluxe rooms and 11 Suites.

Nobis Hotel Sweden

Whitepod Resort, Eco Swiss Igloos

Shan Tara — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:21:02 +0000

The Whitepod Resort is a village of 15 igloos where comfort and nature joins together in the Swiss Alps at 1700 meters above sea level, at the foot of the Dents-du-Midi (“The Teeth of Mid-day”).

With the use of the pods (dome shaped tents), pitched on wooden platforms, Whitepod offers low impact accommodation in an untouched and pristine alpine environment. Isolated from all urban pollution, the mountain region lends itself beautifully to such an eco-tourism development. After a night in a “pod” geodesic igloo snow so the cozy interior (with king-size bed), you can enjoy massages, sauna and winter sport activities like snowshoeing rides or dogsled. Member of « The Luxury Camps & Lodges of the World » and rewarded with the World Prize for Sustainable Tourism in 2005, the Whitepod Resort aims to be a model for sustainable tourism by using a number of measures to limit its impact on nature.

Whitepod Resort

Juvet Landscape Hotel by Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor

Shan Tara — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 18:10:28 +0000

Designed by Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor (JSA), the Juvet Landscape Hotel is located in the heart of a picturesque forest, on the banks of the river Valdolla, in Norway. Each room is a detached small independent house with one, or sometimes two of the walls constructed in glass. The landscape in which these rooms are placed is by most people considered spectacularly beautiful and varied and the topography allows a layout where no room looks at another. In this way every room gets its own surprising view of a dramatic piece of landscape, always changing with the weather and the time of the day and the season.

Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor

Dream and Fly Bubbles, Micro Hotel Rooms Concept

Shan Tara — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 00:01:18 +0000

Barcelona company Dream and Fly have sent us the latest project of their miniature hotel rooms proposed for airports and train stations. The bubbles are designed as small luxury rooms and are available in three dimensions. The ‘Simple Bubble’ is five square meters and has no bathroom, ‘Single Bubble’ is seven square meters with an en-suite, while ‘Family Bubble’ is ten square meters and includes a cot.

Simple Bubble consists of a space without a bathroom. This type of modular bubble works in a completely autonomous way from the structure of a micro hotel. It can be installed in any place where a hotel room cannot be built.

In this space the passenger / client can sleep for a few hours in a comfortable bed which can be either single or double, lie down on the pillows of the reclining headrest and work on a foldable table with access to the Internet, or consult the boarding details of their flight on an LCD monitor on the wall and keep the newspapers on a shelf next to the bed, which is totally equipped with stations for mobile phones and mp3 players, with ambient sound and electrical sockets. The passenger can take a shower, in the privacy of their own space, where they can find a sink, toilet and modern shower. All of the sanitary ware are stainless steel, reminiscent of the interior of a plane.

Dream and Fly Bubble