ABOUT THIS HOTEL

• DESCRIPTION
• FACILITIES
• ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN

SPECIAL OFFERS FOR THIS HOTEL

ARCHITECTURE / INTERIOR DESIGN

Architect:
Avant garde Architecture
Cirici Bassó Martitegui

Interior design:
Triade Studio

Set in the centre of Madrid, on the Carrera de San Jerónimo, the Hotel Urban welcomes its guests with a distinctive fusion of the avant-garde, design, art and technology. Occupying the site that formerly hosted the palace of the Duque de Ribas, a completely new and modern building crowns entrepreneur Jordi Clos’ collection of hotels. Behind a façade of steel and glass, standing out against the neighbourhood’s rather classical aesthetic, rests Madrid’s new fashionable retreat. The Urban has perhaps become one of the Spanish capital’s most innovative hotels with a sensibility and commitment to crafting one of the city’s most interesting spaces.

The building’s immediate surroundings are stylistically rather homogeneous, and the adjacent constructions share a prevalence of solidity and a similar vertical composition which as been upheld by the architects in Hotel Urban’s façade. When entering through the large double-height portico, the main goal of the project is revealed: creating a unique space with the highest quality materials in which every design feature reflects luxury without pretension. A tubular atrium leads to the reception area that is the centre of the structure and majestically welcomes visitors. It is crafted in a stainless steel and alabaster structure moulded to confer light and lightness. The Urban’s baseboard is panelled in saw-cut black Zimbabwe stone with metallic finishes in the seams, resembling large plates that create a clean opening. The rock is granite-like, thus conferring extreme durability and uniformity of colour. The initial impression of the hall is an apparent interplay of shapes, energies and lights that provoke both tension and beauty. The totems from the primitive cultures of Papua New Guinea, expectant and immobile, welcome the senses to the activity unfolding inside the hotel. There is both a material and conceptual continuity throughout the building’s outer and inner spaces in which the architecture is expressed with significant and technological forcefulness.

An alternative way to enter Hotel Urban Madrid is through the fashionable GlassBar. This groovy-chic environment is Madrid’s first and only oyster bar. Crystal floors, silver-shaded sofas and transparent seats and tables give it an intense feel, contrasting sharply with Madrid’s conservative patterns.

As a valuable addition to Madrid’s gastronomy scene, the Europa Decó restaurant serves exquisite culinary delights in tasteful surroundings. The walls are covered in rusted stone from Brazil, creating a backdrop of contrasting texture that also harmonises with the glass mosaics highlighting the wall. The venue stretches along the entire ground floor of the hotel, rendered in marble and black steel. The furnishings and decoration give the restaurant an ethnic flavour. The wood used for the tables and wall coverings is ebony, a tropical wood. The chairs are upholstered in luxurious hand-crafted leather and at the back of the restaurant, in Urban’s inner courtyard, more sculptures from Papua New Guinea round off the distinct atmosphere that is palpable throughout the property. Ninety-six rooms and suites can be reached through two elevators with see-through walls. Chinese prints from the Ming Dynasty on each floor welcome guests to the private areas. Passing through the doorways set in wood-panelled walls, access is gained to the elegant and modern accommodations.

In each of the rooms, the designers have included original art work, such as Buddhist figures crafted in Asian countries some 200 years ago, giving a mystical and individual character to each ambient. Featuring a sombre overall feel, the rooms include large beds with leather headboards, antique furniture and bathrooms, separated by glass screens that can be moved by the touch of a button. The duplex suites offer an additional working area on a split-level and all spaces are fitted with the latest in intelligent mod cons. However, it is in the bigger suites that particular attention to detail reaches its climax. The furniture and the works of art displayed are more varied than in standard accommodation, mixing antique pieces with ultra modern design furniture.

The top floor of Madrid's Urban hotel hosts what has become an essential pleasure in Madrid’s high-class hospitality arena: breathtaking views. At night, the lounge spaces become a meeting point for the city’s glitterati. The smaller restaurant La Terraza is the perfect setting to enjoy the impressions of this metropolitan landscape.

The Urban is all about luxury, however not in an ostentatious way. This is where highest design features meet the uniqueness of art, thus achieving a balance in its interiors that cannot be recreated.