Notes
November 23, 2012

The Best designed European Hotels in 2012

The European Hotel Design Awards for 2012 were acknowledged on 21st November in London. Among Europe’s most recently completed and outstanding hotel projects - The Corinthia Hotel, The Mirror Hotel, Hotel Valentinerhof and Superbude St Pauli - in the category of Newbuild the winner is a Design Hotel Lone (Maistra) from Croatian architects 3LHD.

This award selects outstanding hotel projects in the categories Newbuild, Bedrooms & Bathrooms, Café, Bar, Nightclub & Lounge, Conversion of an Existing Building to Hotel Use and Spa and  Health & Leisure Facilities.

Hotel Lone, Rovinj, Croatia (Maistra)

Newbuild: Hotel Lone is a stunning piece of architecture created by 3LHD architects on the Istrian coastline in Croatia. It not only makes the most of its location but enhances it also. For a relatively young team of designers (Numen/ForUse, I-GLE, Silvio Vujicic, Ivana Franke, Bruketa&Zinic) and architects inexperienced in hospitality design this was a stand-out winner for the judging panel.

Design Hotel Lone (Maistra) is placed in Rovinj (Croatia). Project was designed by 3LHD architects (Croatia).

The judges felt this was a bold statement that worked well with the landscape, created many interesting and thoughtful spaces and played with the numerous interactions of plane, light and volume notably in the public areas.

Hotel Valentinerhof, St Valentin, Italy

Conversion And/Or Extension Of An Existing Hotel Building: NOA architects designed Valentinerhof’s substantial extension to an existing traditional hotel in the South Tyrol alpine region of Italy.

Hotel Valentinerhof, St Valentin, Italy (NOA architects). The space planning, use of glass and authentic materials that echo the surrounding farm buildings make this a special place to stay and relax.

This building combines a respect for place and local materials with a true desire to bring a sense of joy and celebration of the rural setting whilst delivering everything that is expected of a contemporary hotel experience. The simple but beautifully executed design particularly impressed the judges.

The Mirror Hotel, Barcelona, Spain

Conversion Of An Existing Non-Hotel Building To Hotel Use – The Mirror Hotel (GCA Architects): Whilst the overall look and feel of this conversion of an old office block in Barcelona is very accomplished it was the spatial planning of such a narrow space that stood out for the judges.

Hotel Mirror (GCA Architects) - The thoughtful approach to lighting, decoration and artwork and the witty and literal references to mirrors and reflections made this a clear winner in this category.

The clever room plans that gave all the front rooms a street view, the dramatic use of the central lift shaft to provide an intriguing vertical link through the whole building.

Superbude St Pauli, Hamburg, Germany

The European Hotel Design Of The Year Award – Best Of  The Best – was given to the Superbude 2 by Dreimeta architects. The hostel’s theme in the public areas with the provocative use of commonplace materials is to provide a multi-functional space that caters for eating, meeting, socialising and celebrating.

Superbude Lobby. The design is well thought through and has strong appeal to its target market who are the future generation of travellers. The rooms have a real sense of fun and excitement whilst retaining all the basic features expected of a hotel experience.

More seasoned hotel guests can also find something different and more relaxed, in a place that challenges the preconceptions of what a hotel space can be.

Bedrooms in Superbude.

The high-level judging panel included Chair of the judges Simon Ford of InterContinental Hotels Group, Jeremy Blake of Purcell Miller Tritton, Christoph Hoffman of 25Hours Hotel Group and Celia Geyer of Hilton Worldwide.

For more info about the other awards – visit The Sleeper magazine.

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