Monday Motivation: Sibling Revelry

Room Mate’s two new hotels in Barcelona debuted at the same time, but their strong design identities make them anything but a twin set.

By Matthew Hall of Boutique Design Magazine

In dense urban cores, traveling just a few blocks can make it feel like you’ve landed in a completely different city. So it is in Barcelona, where Room Mate Hotels recently opened two more of its personality-centric properties within less than a half mile of each other: Room Mate Anna, which is in the Quadrat d’Or (Golden Square), an area known for its noteworthy modernist buildings; and Room Mate Carla, which is on Calle Mallorca, a major boulevard that’s adjacent to one of the city’s major business and shopping districts. (This new pair of hotels joins two previously opened Room Mate hotels in Barcelona—Emma and Pau.)

 
Vibrant red lacquer surfaces reflect the energetic persona of the Room Mate Anna hotel. Also in abundance are visual references to the nearby Mediterranean Sea. All photos: Courtesy of Room Mate Hotels

To design his brand’s two latest hotels in the city, Room Mate Hotels founder and president Enrique “Kike” Sarasola—one of Boutique Design’s 2015 Up-and-Coming Hoteliers—called on two Madrid-based designers he knows well. For Room Mate Anna, which the brand designated as its new European flagship, Sarasola hired interior designer Lorenzo Castillo, who has worked on several locales for the hotelier, including its North American flagship, Room Mate Grace in New York. For Room Mate Carla, meantime, Sarasola turned to designer Tomas Alía, who previously worked on Room Mate Oscar in Madrid and Room Mate Aitana in Amsterdam.

 

At Room Mate Carla, the cool vibe is cranked up in this blue-dominated lobby bar, with its plush set of flexible seating arrangements.

“Through their previous work with us, Tomas and Lorenzo both demonstrated that they understand our vision for Room Mate Hotels, which is to offer our guests a unique and highly personal experience,” says Sarasola. “That made them a natural choice for bringing Anna and Carla to life.”

Lorenzo Castillo

Indeed, one of Room Mate’s signature differentiators is its hotels’ designs each reflect a persona created for that specific property. “We start by conceiving of each of our hotels as a personal friend of the guest,” explains Sarasola.

As a result, each Room Mate locale has a set of keywords that describe its namesake. In Anna’s case, those characteristics are “energetic, tenacious and ingenious.” Carla is also energetic, but her other key descriptors are “passionate and innovative.” And those differing traits underpin and inform the designs of the two hotels, says Sarasola.

Tomas Alía

That said, both the new Barcelona hotels share visual references to two local features that loom large in Barcelona: the nearby Mediterranean Sea, and the work of famed architect Antoni Gaudi, who designed several prominent buildings throughout the city. But each property offers its own unique spins on those influences, along with several other sub-themes that are specific to each one.

At Room Mate Anna, Castillo began by seeking to create an entry experience “that makes guests feel as though they are immersed in a dream-like fantasy that lies somewhere between ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and Gaudí’s surrealism. That is reflected in such things as the check-in desk, which has lacquered black and white dragon-like scales and is accented by a 1970's-inspired lamp.”

A series of faux portholes in Room Mate Anna's lobby evoke both the nearby sea and "Alice in Wonderland," the designer says.

The Alice-related references include a series of porthole-like peepholes in a lobby wall that serve as small windows to the space next door, which will eventually be a restaurant. Speaking of fantasy worlds, Castillo took cues from one of America’s glamour capitals for the hotel’s breakfast room.

“There, we wanted to honor the golden age of Hollywood by utilizing painted papers that emulate golden Japanese ones, but with an American spin,” he says. “In addition, the seating is a reinterpretation of the Californian Regency Style from the 1930's and ’40's. Everything has a sophisticated elegance that allows the breakfast room to also host meetings and events.”

The gold leaf surfaces in Room Mate Anna's breakfast room pay homage to Hollywood glamour, as do the space's multiple mirrors.

In the guest rooms, layered sophistication is an apt descriptor. “Bursts of bold color are perhaps the most notable aspect of the guest rooms’ design scheme, incorporating the hues of the Catalonian landscapes, such as the turquoises and aquamarines of Palamós, and the earthy brown and green tones of the cypress trees of Empordà,” says Castillo. “References to the Mediterranean also play a central role here, as reflected in the use of bright red Trapani coral and giant shells, while the colored marble floors add to the dimensionality of the spaces.”

A few blocks away in Room Mate Carla, Alía’s design intermingles references to the nearby sea and Gaudi with several features that harken back to the city’s days as an industrial powerhouse. The latter touches include the hotel’s front desk, which is a large vertical structure made of dozens of enameled, handmade ceramic pieces.

The beds take center stage in Room Mate Carla's guest rooms, thanks to colorful headboard-to-ceiling painted patterns.

“I wanted the lobby to literally take your breath away,” says Alía. “To help do that, I used a color scheme there that’s a mix of bold blue, silver and taupe, and crafted focal points around armchairs and sofas that were custom made in striking geometric shapes.”

When developing the guest room concepts, the designer says, “The focus is on where guests rest: the bed. To accomplish that, we created a series of patterns that start above the headboards and extend onto the ceiling, each with a different kaleidoscope of color, from waves of pink and purple to hexagons of blue and green.”

Angular furnishings and fixtures with metal accents help create a subtle industrial vibe in Room Mate Carla's lobby.

Counterbalancing that colorful touch is an overall white palette. In addition, Alía notes, “Each area of the guest rooms features a different texture that creates a sensory experience from the visual to the tactile. The result is a unique experience.”

And that, after all, is what Anna, Carla and their 20-plus sibling Room Mate Hotels are seeking to create.

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

ROOM MATE ANNA
OWNER/OPERATOR: Room Mate Hotels: Enrique “Kike” Sarasola, founder and president
DESIGN FIRM: Lorenzo Castillo
ARCHITECT: Sorigué 
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Alting Grupo Inmobiliario
ART: Productos Ralpe
CURTAINS: Francisco Jover SA
FLOORCOVERINGS: EGE; Inmodesa; Marmoleria Catalana; Pinar Miro; Roca
FURNITURE: Lorenzo Castillo 
SEATING: Artelore Home; Mis en Demeure
WALLCOVERINGS: Cole & Sun; Marmoleria Catalana; Catalonia Ceramic

ROOM MATE CARLA
OWNER/OPERATOR: Room Mate Hotels: Enrique “Kike” Sarasola, founder and president
DESIGN FIRM: Tomas Alía
CARPET: Balsan
CURTAINS: Gancedo
FURNITURE/HEADBOARD PAPERS/LIGHTING: Tomas Alía 
HEADBOARD: Pyton 
SEATING: Gancedo; Pyton

Original Article form Boutique Design:

http://www.boutiquedesign.com/content/sibling-revelry?page=0%2C0