‘Nineteen of the world’s best architects create the hotel of the future in Madrid’.

Each of the hotel’s 12 floors bears the imprint of a different design talent. Each floor measures 1300 m2 and the only constraint was that each had to contain 28 rooms and two junior suites. The external structure was developed by SGA Studio and is a fairly standard rectangular tower block. John Pawson did the common areas, while Jean Nouvel designed the cladding on the facade and was commissioned to design the 12th floor with 12 luxurious suites (as an exception on the 28-room-rule). Norman Foster’s serene second floor draws inspiration from the palette of the Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida. The result is that the rooms are transformed into flexible and sensual inner sanctuaries. The design and integration of spaces the materials and tones used -all these details have been carefully selected to envelop guests with serenity, enabling them to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.

Individual floors at The Silken Group’s Hotel Puerta America 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 and Partners’ designed suites will offer a luxurious respite from Madrid’s frenetic bustle.