크롬 호텔은 유니크한 펀칭메탈 패턴으로 아이텐티한
랜드마크를 구성한다.
입면패턴을 구성하는 45센티미터의 오프닝은 외부의 환경과의 소통 통로로써 활용되며
동시에 주간의 태양빛을 실내로 자연스럽게 유입시킨다.
유입된 자연채광은 호텔을 이용하는 투숙객들에게 쾌적한 환경을 제공하여 준다.
특히 저층부와 최상층에 위치한 퍼블릭스페이스는 다양한 프로그램과 그공간을
대표하는 디자인으로 투숙객들과 이곳을 이용하는 사람들에게
다양한 볼륨감과 심미적 안정감을 전해준다.
커머셜 스페이스과 레지던스 스페이스의 접점에 서 있는 호텔은 사람들이 거주하는 공간중,
가장 민첩하게 트랜드를 반영하며 빠르게 변화한다.
어쩌면 당연한 결과 일 것이다. 특정 개인을 위한 쉘터와 같은 개념이 아닌
템퍼러리 거주공간으로써의 일회성은 물론이고 공간을 렌탈하는 집적적인
소비활동을 만족시키는 일련의 행위 또한 충족해야 되기 때문이다.
사람들을 매혹시킬 수 있는 제품이 되어야만
사람들이 사지 않을까? 너무나 당연한 이치이다.
reviewed by SJ
Facing a busy arterial road of the city and flanked by commercial buildings on either side with a residential building at the rear, this small plot for a business hotel had a height limitation of 24 m.
The hotel is planned in eight levels with public spaces occupying the first three levels and four levels of rooms above with a rooftop lounge bar on the topmost floor. Since there was nothing in the surroundings to look out to at the lower levels, the entire volume comprising of the public spaces and the vertical circulation is punctuated by small 45 cm diameter circular openings. These openings allow natural light into the public spaces at daytime and are made of frit glass so that the exterior is purposely not seen and the public spaces have an identity of their own once one enters and experiences them. Each opening is lit by LEDs during the evening hours that change colour as the night progresses, making the building dynamic as it glows in different hues like a large punctuated lantern.
Architect: Sanjay Puri Architects
Location: Kolkatta, India
Photographs: Courtesy of Sanjay Puri Architects
The room levels are identified by a rectilinear white block that is punctuated by varying widths of vertical slit windows that cantilevers out over the level of the flyover, forming a wedge at the front corner that houses a suite at each level overlooking a school playground beyond the flyover across the road. The built form thus relates to its surroundings in terms of its planning and creates a distinct identity albeit its small size.
The hotel is entered through a 24′ high lobby with a wall of varied rectilinear composition of wood and glass that curves into the ceiling, slowly fragmenting into individual suspended glass cuboids, creating a sculptural effect. The small lobby space is perceived with openness by virtue of its volume and its extension into an open coffee shop that is segregated by low pink glass partitions.
The typical rooms are created with a graphic composition that flows across the ceiling diagonally coming down vertically in a wide panel behind the bed and sweeping down in a narrow panel at the opposite end, to turn into a study table. The graphical composition of each room differs so that no two rooms in this boutique hotel are identical. The rooms necessarily being smaller due to the constraints of the site are yet perceived with openness achieved by the continuity of design elements and the glass cornered toilets within them.
The corridors too have panels that visually connect doors to rooms diagonally interspersed with large graphical panels deviating from the staid repetitive corridors that most hotels incorporate.
The topmost floor houses a lounge bar with an open terrace along its length. The bar being small in area is designed in a fluid manner that allows it to be perceived as a larger space while being rendered in a sculptural way. Undulating curved ribbon shaped panels are suspended from the ceiling with reflected colour change lighting between them across the length of the bar. The walls and the bar counter are merged fluidly with curvilinear panels of varying widths and projections. Complete white rendering of all the design elements allow the bar to be completely transformed by colour change lights at intervals, creating different moods.
This hotel is designed in a manner that allows a series of experiences to its visitors. The juxtaposition of angular punctuated volumes that form the building, the sculpted free flowing entrance lobby, the angular abstracted volumes of the restaurant, the variety of rooms and the fluid spaces of the bar each are created with their own distinct identity and experience.
Each space is a sculpted volume with forms, colours, textures, materials and lighting being brought together in a cohesive way to create its individual experience. These spaces create a hotel that is not just a place to stay in temporarily, but a series of spaces that are explorative in the experiences they evoke.
The building in lieu of its restricted surroundings, size and height limitations yet creates a strong presence within the area using every space within to advantage in a clearly functional manner, while creating the illusion of being a much larger series of spaces internally.
