Puerta America Hotel

published Jan 8, 2008

How many internationally acclaimed architects does it take to change the face of boutique hotel design? Answer: 19.

It sounds like the punchline to some sort of industry joke, but at the Silken Group's Puerta America Hotel in Madrid the answer is no laughing matter.

Silken's Juan Valls takes up the story: "we initially wanted to call in four or five internationally renowned figures.

Then one thing led to another and the field expanded."

Silken enlisted the likes of Zaha Hadid, Ron Arad, David Chipperfield, Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel and Marc Newson; a dream team made up of the biggest names in design and build - Real Architecture anyone?

The Puerta America's location is either handy for the airport or a suburban enclave on the edge of a busy motorway, depending on your point of view.

The external structure was developed by SGA Studio, headed by Felipe Saez de Gordoa, and is fairly standard airport hotel fare: an unobtrusive rectangular tower block.