Lobby HCB

Interior design of Hotel Ciutat de Barcelona's Hall

When the Hotel Ciutat de Barcelona recovered a ground floor space from its own building that was ceded to an external restaurant, its transformation was considered in order to include several complementary hotel services. The space gained was to be an extension of the existing small reception, a hospitality area, and the room for the lunch service for the hotel guests.

It was a matter of combining three fairly varied uses in the same space that had to happen during the day. At the same time, the features of the scope of action posed a major challenge: space had a fairly irregular geometries, a reduced free height, and an outflow had to be resolved that was significantly higher than the interior pavement.

We defined a new directionality, different from all existing ones, which would address the elements of the project. It was on the ceiling where those new traces where drawn using light lines that ordered the elements of space. From this new underlying order were arranged the buffet benches, the tables for the breakfast service, the rest area annexed to the reception and the lounge zone for a relaxed and informal stay which at the same time resolves the transition to the outside and the corresponding change of dimension.

The hotel wanted to display an image related to the city of Barcelona, given its location in one of the most emblematic neighborhoods in the city. At the same time, it was intended to avoid the typical themes used in merchandising for the city’s mass tourism. The concept adopted for the space definition was “Barcelona City of Design”. We wanted to show a contemporary and dynamic space, closer to a coworking than to a hotel lobby, and where furniture and lighting elements were iconic pieces designed and produced by agents of the city of Barcelona.

This way, emblematic elements of local signatures, such as the Cesta lamp, the Cadaqués sofa and many others, furnish the space freshly and atemporally at the same time, generating a contemporary and welcoming space. The result is a genuinely Barcelonian space that presents the hotel customers with a different face from the city’s cultural heritage.

When the Hotel Ciutat de Barcelona recovered a ground floor space from its own building that was ceded to an external restaurant, its transformation was considered in order to include several complementary hotel services. The space gained was to be an extension of the existing small reception, a hospitality area, and the room for the lunch service for the hotel guests.

It was a matter of combining three fairly varied uses in the same space that had to happen during the day. At the same time, the features of the scope of action posed a major challenge: space had a fairly irregular geometries, a reduced free height, and an outflow had to be resolved that was significantly higher than the interior pavement.

We defined a new directionality, different from all existing ones, which would address the elements of the project. It was on the ceiling where those new traces where drawn using light lines that ordered the elements of space. From this new underlying order were arranged the buffet benches, the tables for the breakfast service, the rest area annexed to the reception and the lounge zone for a relaxed and informal stay which at the same time resolves the transition to the outside and the corresponding change of dimension.

The hotel wanted to display an image related to the city of Barcelona, given its location in one of the most emblematic neighborhoods in the city. At the same time, it was intended to avoid the typical themes used in merchandising for the city’s mass tourism. The concept adopted for the space definition was “Barcelona City of Design”. We wanted to show a contemporary and dynamic space, closer to a coworking than to a hotel lobby, and where furniture and lighting elements were iconic pieces designed and produced by agents of the city of Barcelona.

This way, emblematic elements of local signatures, such as the Cesta lamp, the Cadaqués sofa and many others, furnish the space freshly and atemporally at the same time, generating a contemporary and welcoming space. The result is a genuinely Barcelonian space that presents the hotel customers with a different face from the city’s cultural heritage.

ORIGINAL STATE PICTURES: