Architecture: ELENI KOSTIKA
Project Title: (i) hotel / copyright 2005
Location: Athens
Category: boutique hotel
Programme:
SLEEP-MEET-VIEW
Condition: visible
•14 small suites
•roof lobby/reception/lounge
•city views
•hanging gardens
•street lobby hangout/passage
INDULGE-CONSUME
Condition: invisible
•shops/boutiques
•contemporary art
•body&soul treatments
•gourmet delicacies
•audiovisual
•room service
Description:
The (i) hotel is a hotel about indulgence. The indulgence in small luxuries. Confessing our indulgences is something intimate, yet the life in the city exposes consumption and indulgences as a spectacle.
On the contrary in the (i) hotel our indulgences are protected, they are invisible and also exclusive, hidden inside, away from the curious prying eyes. We leave our guilt behind when in the (i) hotel. Our stay can be exposed and visible as the small suites are dressed in glass. Our presence becomes visible to the city, if we chose to. Or else black out thick velvet curtains protect our privacy in the enclosure of our room.
The (i) hotel is designed specifically for local conditions; for the city of Athens. Athens has a lack of space on street level, thus street ground level is left as passage/meeting place. The conventional hotel lobby is stripped away on ground level. A singular entry point takes as straight to the (i) hotel lobby on the roof top where we check-in at the reception, and check-out the view of the city before we go to our suite. And on our way to our room we secretly get a preview of the luxuries we may indulge in.
Athens lack of space also calls for small scale interventions, so the (i) hotel is minimal in scale. All is small in scale in the (i) hotel, because more intimacy is needed in close proximity with the intensity and exposure of the city life itself. The interior spaces are luxurius and our experience through the spaces intricate. There is no need to meet anyone unless we chose to. We would like the visitor to quickly feel comfortable and familiar inside the hotel. The hotel is not open to the public, it is only for its customers.
Climbing plants and vegetation grow around the (i) hotel to form two hanging garden walls facing the building bare sides of the buildings around. The city lacks green so green grows on the
(i) hotel, like plants fall out of the Athenian balconies looking like hanging gardens.
The (i) hotel operates as a new business model prototype where the very best companies on luxury services or items, become the hosts of our stay. (Art galleries, jewelry, fine clothing, gourmet delicacies, body&soul treatments, audiovisual experiences etc) Also exclusive items are for viewing, or tasting or buying that are not available on the market. I.e. An installation or a work of art made specifically for the i-hotel.
Each suite is hosted by a different company or organization, as outside each room, there is a show space for its services as an extension to the suite. Every suite is on a different level.
The (i) hotel is very expensive, very exclusive, has the best room service and is ideal for a short stay in Athens. Found on all convenient locations in the centre of the city.
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