Hotel Puerta America
Far from the stereotypes

The concept of the Puerta America Hotel in Madrid, the most recent hotel in the Silken group, is unique in the world. In fact, nineteen architects firms and design agencies, including some of the most prestigious names in the business, were brought together to decorate the twelve floors of the hotel. With total freedom of expression, the designers were allowed to deal with their floor just as they wished and regardless of what the others were doing. Arata Isozaki, Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, Kathryn Findlay, Ron Arad, Plasma Studio and David Chipperfield, Javier Mariscal and Victorio y Luchino, Richard Gluckman, Mark Newson and Jean Nouvel, who designed the façade, are all personalities who decorated the rooms while retaining their creative individuality. In addition, the following names also need to be added to the list; John Pawson (the hall and lobby, relaxing areas at the heart of the hotel), Christian Liaigre (the restaurant that combines various aspects of Spanish culture), Harriet Bourne and Jonathan Bell (landscaping architecture that integrates the garden and the building), Teresa Sapey (the garage decorated with lively graphics and colours), Jason Bruges and Arnold Chan (lighting).

Each of the 342 rooms invites the hotel guest to live a new experience: to live in a unique place and enjoy the different shapes and materials which are generally used in a completely unexpected manner. The expressive power of images, the fabrics and lighting work together to suggest an emotional mood. Every floor has its own surprises. Immaculately clean spaces can be found next to the Pop style of the 70s, and steel next to sophisticated and baroque furnishing materials.

The main theme of the architectural design is the word 'freedom' from the poetry of Paul Eluard and this is written in calligraphic letters in several languages on the façade. The hotel is a genuine tower of Babel and it's like visiting a museum or a space dedicated to our imagination. According to the mayor of Madrid, if the hotel reflects the soul of the city, then Madrid has become the 'capital of the world's avant-garde architecture'.

Ron Arad (7th floor) has organised the bathrooms around a curved module, and the bedrooms are completely in line with his vision of design.

Kathryn Findlay (8th floor ) has recreated a dreamy space where you can 'float on the clouds'.