Hotel
Working in perfect harmony with the owners of this hotel, founded in 1996, we have had the opportunity to undertake various improvement projects to address the renovation of 6 areas of this facility, several are still underway and others are already completed, such as this façade, whose 38 m. length gives it considerable scope and dimensions.
The appearance of this façade in it´s pre-renovation state features is not a pure cladding because is yellow-orange paint combined with dark red stripes. For this reason, the hotel decided that it was necessary to improve its insulation capacity and at the same time, transform the aesthetic appearance of the façade. In the search for an effective alternative, a ventilated façade was finally chosen as the solution, because its qualities and characteristics offer multiple advantages and practically no disadvantages.
The design proposal for renovating this façade it has starting point, where we cannot alter any of the existing openings. Taking this information into account, we understand the methodology requires precision to begin a search for solutions tailored to this specific case and to try to discover or detect the ideal aesthetic attributes that will give this building a personalized appearance, taking advantage of the potential of its intrinsic nature, which had previously remained hidden.
Now, with this result, this façade interacts with sunlight, thanks to the zigzag volumetric projections that run across the first, second, and third floors by protruding from the flat, dominant portion of this façade, it maintains an emotional and direct dialogue with the outside environment and allows for the appearance of nuances of light throughout the day, enriching the expression
and appearance of this large construction.
Another essential detail to complete this composition is the entrance, which leads directly to the recpection desk or the guest´s first point of contact with the hotel. Due to the importance of the message conveyed by this circumstance, we were able to create a unique element made with a independent structure of two articulated semi-porchs, located on either side of the existing exterior staircase. These two semi-porchs, located are connected by a glass roof and thanks to this way of define the access, we were able to design a refined architectural element, thus creating a more protected, framed and bold entrance, as it has been integrated into this area, making it seem as if it had always been there.
The cladding used on tjis new façade is a large format porcelain tile and this quality of this material facilitates a well organized breakdown. It is made up of pieces measuring between 3 and 1 m. And as the final part or outer layer of this construction system, it is anchores to battens that have previously been fixed to the building, thus helping to create an air chamber, which shares space with exterior rock wool insulation and together, these two parts perfom a formidable job in achieving a high level of insulation.
The last piece designed is the sign that displays the hotel’s name, where, incidentally, the owners have commissioned us to renew their corporate image. If you look closely, you can see that we also used the same chocolate brown cladding that was used to cover the ground floor, thus creating the base of this monolith.
The choice of color tones ultimately chosen aims to differentiate the ground floor from the rest and for that reason, the darkest tone is chosen for this part of the façade, as this will create a solid chromatic base visually in relation with the outside, and it will also give presence ubicated on the street level. On floors 1, 2, and 3, the beige hue provides greater luminosity, thus avoiding the risk of this building becoming visually overpowering due to the overuse of the dark tone used on the ground floor.
Studio Work: Proposal and Representation of Ideas. Project Development Summary
1/ Right Side Elevation and Front Elevation. 2/ Virtual Mockup Scenes, 3D Model. Hotel Façade Renovation in Melide, A Coruña
Work, Progress and Evolution. Project Development Summary
Photographs taken during the construction process. Hotel Façade Renovation in Melide, A Coruña
