[ Simone Micheli ] Arezzo Park Hotel

Date of planning : 2007
Date of construction : 2009
Location : A1 Motorway – Arezzo Exit –Battifolle 36/T – 52100 Arezzo, Italy
Area in square meters : 10.000
122 rooms
1 restaurant
1 bar
1 wellness center
1 250 seat convention center
7 meeting halls
1 open swimming pool

“The work of interior architecture I designed for Claudio and Cinzia Alliata bears the anticanonical message expressing ethics, beauty and contemporaneity. The day I met the two brilliant entrepreneurs from Rome as for designing the interiors of the hotel facility which was about to become a milestone of accomodation in the Arezzo area, we get in tune at once. The aim of my customers was creating a tridimensional symbol capable of integrating with no effort and in a contemporary way with the cultural and artistic contents of the Arezzo and Tuscany surroundings. My answer consisted in generating a continuous space bubble capable of expressing “unique meanings ”osmotically connected to the past, present and future by means of counterpoint , by using natural materials, by colours and light creating muffled chromatisms, by fluid geometries suspended between present and future. I created   the interiors of the Arezzo Park Hotel in the same way as an architectural suite instead of just as a furnishing installation. I considered this place in the same way as a space machine being charged with emotion having flawless logistic and functional features. All the details of this hotel were put through a sieve and been taken care of in an almost obsessive way in order to create a new ethical hotel pattern aiming at reducing the running, logistics, maintenance and consumption related costs. The Arezzo Park Hotel means to represent the manifesto of a new possible sustainable Hotel dimension.” – Architect Simone Micheli

The planimetry of the fluid environment is marked by walls, animated sculptures, concave and convex shapes carved in the chalk and resined with the sky shades of Piero della Francesca resting on the silver porcelain stoneware floor. Blue Led shots enhance the harmony of these shapes, lenghten the outlines by means of shadow play which results in orienting the visitor towards the reception. The mouth of the reception is coated with brushed steel tape and it represents a silver dish apt to receive the customer and a stage like wing separates the space from the personnel office and the back office. White ice and mirror wood covered sculptured pillars work as flat built in screen and ultra slim rubber keyboard electronic stations which alternate between the pure wide seats of the couch featuring an higly fluid design and offers the visitor short spells of relax. The mirror satinated elevators feature fluid shapes hint at a forest of abstract magic branches or at filaments of liquid texture dilating and  extending and then they result in rhythmic patterns interrupted just by the portals and by the essential brushed steel indicator signals. From the mirror clear surfaces the focus of the attention moves to the continuous parapet concealing the light valve of the helical staircase connecting the basement which leads to the wellness center named “Splash down”, to the meeting rooms and to the toilets. The Wellness Center floor reveals at once its strong features as we can see in the curved wall having mirror mouldings connecting  the elevators and the resinated fluid concave and convex shapes wall. A ground located system of lights featuring screen printed backlit inscriptions on oval shaped  on steel plates accompany the visitor along a number of space adventures. A sinuous shaped fluid ante bathroom  separates the women and the men toilets where a large stainless iron stela and a mirror having backlit inscriptions works as air, water and soup dispenser and it is located above a monumental bath.Vanishing doors located in other mirror panels enable the visitor to reach the white processed private facilities.By following the sinuous pathway underlined by blue leds we arrive to the Santa Fiora corridor where the five doors of the meeting rooms are located. They are authentic conference halls of reduced size where business meetings or appointments take place  in an environment rich in formal rigour and in technology as we can see in the contrast between the white curtains with the Santa Fiora stone walls where wide built in monitors coupled with sound systems are placed. The entrance door of the the wellness center “Splash down” is composed of a glass membrane, the wellness center is completely faced with dark grey porcelain stoneware having a rough mirror surface featuring fluid abstract branches patterns, a mosaic made of aquamarin tesserae goes down into the pool along the edge of the floor. The curvilinear anthrax ways of the false ceiling are enhanced by a blue light beam coming from the perimetral flues. The changing rooms and the bathrooms feature porcelain dark grey stoneware facing and filtered accesses with no doors in order to ensure the privacy and to reduce the visibility from outside. The gym is capable of dilating its space by means of a skillful mirror play where the symbolic satinated drawings rest and reflect endlessly the chromium plated mechanisms of the training and fitness machineries. Behind the satinated mirror ramifications are to be found the ways to the sauna, the aromatic showers and to the treatment cabins. White curvilinear portals link the hall with the Events Hall : it is a multipurpose space offering a number of different space configurations in order to meet the most demanding efficiency requirements. The Conference Hall features a full lenght absolute white which underlines the long Santa Fiora stone walls. The functiones are marked by strong signs : a full height pleated double curtain unify the variegated pattern of the windows and dim or screen the external light. The podium and the speaker desks become bevelled profile cubic macrolements, solids extruded from the white ceiling where air conditioning, light and vanishing video projection equipment are located.In thisway  skillful geometries play forms which is enphasized by luminous blue light flues.

In the tripartite space distribution the mobile walls emerge from the perimetric eyelets which divide the space into three halls of different sizes thus resulting in a smaller scale reinterpretation of the theme of furnishing elements. The variation of the sculpture walls represents a strong element of transition of the sequence of the different functiones : while on the one hand the focal point of the hall is within a square space from which to move towards the different functiones,on the other hand,in the perimetric area the flux is canalized by an arrangement of volumes  of the american bar “Lounge bar”featuring a brushed stainless steel covering the upper part by its edges where white light built in spotlights point the light on the surface below and form luminous prints. Snow white opaline glass walls surround the interiors where an overhang shelf having a blue lit flue works as a display cabinet for cocktail bottles. These sinuous shapes lead us to an authentic tridimensional display cabinet having its valuable windows on the corner where in a keen  balance the most valuable bottles of wine are displayed under the white light produced by several led spotlights .  This display cabinet itself conceals the convivial area where its activity develops in the different stages : in  the breakfast hall area which is entirely mirror covered and have symbolic satinated patterns tables and white stainless steel frame seats resembling the profiles of the vanishing buffet niches forming a chessboard in the immaculated part. The restaurant area “Gloss” filtered by a sculpture wall having  resinated chalk concave and convex elements, is composed of a reception and a wall wardrobe where the handles defy the logic of the strict alignment in order to become a virtuosity in chaos. The back wall with Santa Fiora stone facing is interrupted by two belevelled edge big rectangles underlined by regular vanishing points creating an adequate space for putting the hall service away and for building in a 42”flat screen TV where screenplaying evocative images. White belevelled profile wheeled mobile panels featuring glass satinated patterns which create new spaces for the menu a la carte and make it possible to manage the space always in a different way according to simultaneity and privacy criteria.

The sensorial journey of the visitor continues after leaving this muffled scenery and by reaching the threshold leading to the intimate dimension of the bedrooms, the long corridor becomes a sensorial tunnel suspended in a surreal dimension between Picasso and Dalì, where wall built in blue horizontal microleds installed in the silver porcelain stoneware floor sketch the figures of those who walk on the grey shaded moquettes. Oriented spotlights built in in the black microdrilled metal black ceiling project light beams on each scuplture wall, different totemic elements created by asymmetric virtuosisms of white lacquered wood, melted pages looking for a personality, a neutral mirror reflecting the dreams of the guest willing to avoid the mimesis and repetitiveness in order to rediscover his individual dimension. Large size brushed steel elegant numbers attached to edges of the door become a code of signals to each bedroom : 116 “superior suites” boasting  thorough finishing, silk screen mirrors, processed stones and color texture melting in a clear and strict pattern. In fact the entrance area features stylized patterns growing from the floor and underlining each structural element which results in a greater continuity and in enhancing the visual space perception. A full height frosted glass sheet slides into the properly moulded  Santa Fiora stone wall having belevelled edges and concave profiles which vibrate softly in the matter and wrap the bathroom area with silver porcelain stoneware facing.  From here white overhang solids come out : white porcelain belevelled edge parallelepipeds represent the collection of the sanitaries and sink coupled with other box like shapes where the towelling are folded. The curvilinear profile of the wall mirror as well is satinated and features neon backlit white light. The same profile is to be found in the belevelled joints of the shower plate which features white Corian design and has a transparent crystal shielding inserted in a steel framework located in the porcelain stoneware wall. On the floor the soft moquette having 3 shades of green gradation represents the virtual lawn where the white elements of the wardrobe table having a solid surface framework with a pronounced curvature are located. In the lower part it works as a bolster for suitcases and as a wardrobe where the chromium plated clothes hanger and the fluid coat hangers are located. It works as well as a desk with a bolster and vanishing openings for the fridge, the safe and for general stowing. Above this surface a backpainted white glass disc covering the lcd tv is located, it works as ambient lighting by means of a blue light beam projected behind its body, while a metallic brushed steel strip including the switches is located in the stone wall. The white ottomans are enhanced by the strict arrangement of the eiderdown and of the cushions matching the soft shapes of the white trapezoidal belevelled edge bedside tables, of the pattern of the ceiling plasterboard veils  where the equipments and the white light led spotlights illuminate the rough surface bordered by amazing fossil remains. A full height double sliding curtain reveals the boundless panorama through the wide windows facing the countryside characterized by medieval villages and centenarian cypresses. A variation on the theme is represented by the bedroom furnished with moquette having shades of violet ranging from magenta to berry which matches some shades of the Santa Fiora stones. The six suites share the same space dilation and the subdivision into  two areas. The “Executive Suites” and  “Junior Suites” feature the same tendency which is enphasized as for size and elements arrangement as far as they define solids within solids as shown by wardrobe unit which is composed of a big two faced box shape solid having a belevelled profile with satinated glass patterns, the chromium plated steel pole works as filter element between night area and the living area.

The skillful arrangement of the spaces, the transparency of the materials, the space contamination are just some of the features which are going to be printed on the experience of the visitors having the priviledge of enjoying this sensorial and spiritual experience. Being surrounded by natural materials will enable the visitor to return to the origins of truth and the beauty of the shapes and  will inspire the senses with new positive energies.


from  contemporist