Posts Tagged ‘hotels’
Waldorf Astoria to grace Chicago
Saturday, October 18th, 2008Waldorf Astoria to grace Chicago
Twisting development offers new symbol for the Chicago’s skyline
A city of skyscrapers and host to the world’s tallest building for 24 years, The Sears Tower, until Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers stole that crown in 1998, Chicago is a city that strives for vertical elegance in design. And in 2009 this battle will endure with the groundbreaking of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Residential Tower.
The tower, designed by DeStefano & Partners, is contrived to compliment and not overshadow the Chicago skyline. Despite reaching 1,100ft high with over 100 floors when complete, the tower will take second standing to the mighty Sears Towers, respectfully holding back and allowing the Chicago landmark its stature.
The design itself presents a simple structure of glass and steel, which will taper smoothly into the sky asymmetrically, creating the illusion of a twisting figure. The shaft of the tower will rise from the slender base to what appears to be a wider scalpel shaped summit, giving the construction a winding, rotating impression, as if it has drilled itself graciously into Chicago’s landscape. The building was designed to adhere to the current trend in Chicagoan architecture where taller thinner buildings are favoured to shorter buildings providing the same square footage, because the slender fabrications block fewer views.
Included in the €450million tower will be 325 hotel rooms, 367 condominium residences and an 11,000 sq ft ballroom accompanied by a variety of smaller conference suites. The base of the building will also contain a variety of banquet facilities, meeting rooms, and restaurants, along with a private car parking garage capable of holding 772 vehicles, all of which will be located underground to maximize open space at the foot of the tower for the local population. The tower is set to take three years to construct with completion in 2012.
Hotels – Tourism and architecture go hand in hand
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Tourism and architecture go hand in hand. After all, what can give visitors a sense of place greater than the buildings surrounding them? So this week’s Strange but true celebrates this connection by examining some of the most weird and wonderful hotel rooms from around the world…
The definition of a hotel, it seems, is very loose if you are to take a look at Das Parkhotel in Berlin, Germany. Fashioned from a concept of dereliction, visitors to the ‘hotel’ are offered shelter in a cement pipe, outfitted with a double bed, lamp, skylight, brightly painted contrasting walls and a futuristic pin-code lock to enter the eccentric abode. No room for an ensuite here it would seem.
If the aforementioned hotel is only a pipe dream, there’s always a Travelodge. But here is a Travelodge with a difference – created with 88 containers from China the Uxbridge Travelodge will provide you with more sq ft for your dollar and allow you the chance to experience stow-away chic in the heart of London. Not only a novel place to stay while you’re away this hotel offers an enviro-friendly, recycled setting.
If staying in a windowless box is just not hardcore enough for your tastes how about trying a prison break? Turning this massive correctional facility into a decadent hotel, Liberty gives visitors a taste of the inside, inside. With themed restaurant, Clink enclosed by metal bars and bedroom suites with original prison-brick walls this hotel offers a rustic luxury that would be any inmate’s dream.
If you are tempted to break out, however, all you would need for this next hotel is a pick-axe or some patience. Standing for just three months of every year the Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada is America’s only frozen vacational facility. Painstakingly hand sculpted the hotel changes every year as the building simply thaws in March and a new one emerges in January. Craftsmen involved in Ice Hotel 2008 created a chapel and restaurant inside the building as well as the many ice-rooms lined with furs to keep visitors warm – perfect for a wedding or a film location.
If you prefer your sculpted interiors not to present you with the risk of frost bite, Puerta America offers you a similarly magical enclosure in a much milder climate. Based in Madrid, Puerta America is a sumptuously futuristic work of art more than a building that would encourage even the most fervent tourist to stay indoors and explore its enclaves.
The last hotel on the list, Nest in New York, however may have the opposite effect having you reach for the door through fear of being trampled. The intriguing design has taken safari and minimalism, mushed them up and ended up with a mix similar to that which you might see in your nightmares. The bedrooms feature animal body-pieces seemingly emerging through the walls – a sea gull’s beak juts above the bed in one room in what appears to be a remarkable tribute to Hitchcock. Whether you enjoy other worldly experiences or critiquing art, if you’re rich or poor – there is always an awe-inspiring design innovation to suit your holiday preference.
