The evolution of new technologies, innovative applications, and a shift towards sustainable solutions are central to contemporary hotel architecture. These developments aim to raise awareness about environmental care while enhancing indoor comfort and well-being. From expansive resorts and tourist complexes to cabins and remote retreats, the design of common areas incorporates essential furniture for effective activities, proper climate control equipments, and wall and floor finishes that align with specific needs.
Today's architects and interior designers are embracing diverse concepts, notably incorporating biophilia into indoor spaces, utilizing renewable energy for interior comfort, and involving local artists and artisans in the creation of furniture, equipments, and artworks. The design of communal places—such as lounges, meeting rooms, co-working areas, restaurants, terraces, and sports facilities—focuses on providing a range of services and experiences that enhance external views, lighting, ventilation, and overall user comfort.
International fairs, seminars, conferences, and business meetings—like Feria Hábitat Valencia, Cersaie in Bologna, and Marmomac in Verona— serve as platforms for companies in construction, architecture, and design to showcase their products, detailing from manufacturing processes to design methodologies and specific material properties. The public entity ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones aims to promote the internationalization of companies through various programs and supports businesses seeking to expand into global markets.
One of ICEX's core activities includes organizing trade missions and participating in international fairs and exhibitions while offering training and consulting services to Spanish companies. This support equips businesses with the tools they need to thrive in the global market. Companies like Actiu, Ezarri, Grespania, and Flexbrick are exploring materials, designs, finishes, and textures to improve facility efficiency and user experiences.
Actiu and Andreu World: Blending Work and Leisure
What are digital nomads, and how do their needs impact contemporary hotel architecture? Following the COVID-19 pandemic, global work practices have shifted towards hybrid or fully remote models, depending on the industry. The trend of combining work with leisure presents a significant opportunity for hotel architecture. By integrating co-working zones, meeting rooms, and areas equipped with multiple outlets and high-speed Wi-Fi, hotels are continuously adapting their services to meet the demands of this emerging and growing sector.
At Casa de Mareas in Escalante (Cantabria), common areas have been transformed into co-working spaces designed to promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of guests. Actiu has equipped these spaces with versatile, operational solutions, installing professional tables and chairs to provide flexibility for individual and collaborative work tasks. Meanwhile, Andreu World focuses on creating quality products with comfortable furniture and innovative designs for large conference spaces like in the Hotel Arenas Valencia and individualized meeting rooms like those in the Gensler project in California.
Ezarri and Onix: Beyond Wellness Spaces
The growing interest in self-care, treatments, and wellness experiences indicates a trend that is leading hotels to incorporate new spaces and uses that meet these needs. Beyond traditional beauty and relaxation services, there is an increasing range of personalized diagnostics and treatment plans related to health, sports performance, nutrition, emotional balance, and sleep. What requirements do spaces for spas, saunas, meditation, and yoga demand? What materials can enhance the performance and functionality of floors and walls?
Onix considers glass mosaics a fundamental element in both interior and exterior decoration due to their aesthetic possibilities and customization. For instance, at the Hotel Capella Sydney, they utilized various models of glass mosaics in shades of gray and beige that harmonize with other materials. By blending tradition and modernity, they provided customized pieces with a smooth, slip-resistant finish, ensuring comfort and safety in wet areas. Ezarri offers a range of slip-resistant, easy-to-clean designs, applicable in projects from private spas in the UK to wellness spaces like Banya Wellness in Montenegro and Hotel Stary Zdrój in Poland.
Gresmanc and Flexbrick: Facade Solutions for Interior Comfort
In terms of sustainability, reducing carbon footprints and waste in construction, along with the economic benefits of lowering a building's energy consumption, are current priorities for many hotels and resorts. Utilizing renewable energies such as solar and wind power, sourcing local materials, and implementing passive bioclimatic architectural strategies from the design phase are critical. It's essential to consider how strategies like smart lighting, efficient heating systems, water recycling, composting systems, etc., will support activities and meet the needs of guests, visitors, and employees.
From residential projects to office buildings, hospitals, and hotels, Gresmanc Group's ventilated facades offer a range of solutions in extruded ceramics, with designs that meet the creative and efficient demands of professionals. Their participation in Cersaie 2024 showcases their energy performance, aesthetics, and a production model based on the circular economy that promotes responsible production and consumption. Meanwhile, Flexbrick's ceramic fabrics contribute to this global paradigm shift in facade installation, made from recycled and recyclable materials and installed using dry mechanical fastenings for complete recyclability. For example, the Parking Saint-Roch features a ceramic mesh as a smart curtain, connecting with the environment while saving time and energy by eliminating the need for forced ventilation.
Grespania and Piedra Paloma: Purity and Naturalness in Interior Finishes for Dining Areas
Architecture and gastronomy have always been related, as many construction materials are like culinary recipes, following specific instructions to create a finished product. In hospitality, common areas like breakfast spaces, daily dining rooms, and evening restaurants are constantly busy hosting guests, employees, and visitors. Using interior finishes for floors and walls can create fresh, natural, warm, and elegant environments through the application of porcelain and ceramics resembling stone, marble, and wood.
At Cersaie 2024, Grespania introduced a new concept symbolizing a return to the origins where the true essence of raw materials lies. Through CarvedTechnology, they achieve maximum realism with a very natural look for their pieces, while 3DTechnology creates an aged stone or marble effect. Grespania's porcelain applications, available in various formats, proportions, textures, and colors, aim to create feelings of spaciousness and visual continuity. Additionally, companies like Piedra Paloma specialize in marketing natural stone sourced from their own quarries. Their installation in the interiors of the Hotel SeaMarq in Seoul showcases potential uses in circulation areas and dining spaces.
Gres Aragón and Daplast: Recreational Areas and Outdoor Spaces
Among the various amenities offered by hotels and resorts, recreational areas are becoming increasingly important in guests' vacation routines, in children's leisure time, etc. Just as Daplast develops specific seating solutions for sports facility bleachers, Gres Aragón creates ceramics for recreational and sports pool floors, demonstrating the capacity of extruded gres to merge top technical performance with a range of finishes, from warm wood and elegant marble to the natural look of stone and modern cement designs.
Ceramics are considered one of the safest and most timeless construction options due to their versatility, durability, and resistance, qualities that carry over to outdoor applications. Within ceramics, extruded gres is a low-maintenance material with high versatility, applicable to floors, walls, stairs, facades, and pools, among other uses.
A tip of the hat to these companies for offering a truly customer-centric travel experience. By continually raising the bar in hotel architecture, they are boldly venture into uncharted territories, stretching beyond the trends of the moment to bring new insights and thoughts. From the artistry of ceramics to the final frontier of space travel, these trailblazers are redefining the very essence of leisure, enriching it with innovative solutions and a thoughtful, design-led approach.
