| ARCHITECTURE >
No place like home
Written by: David Friday
Photo by: Věroslav Sixt, Tomáš Kubeš (P. Esckerstorfer photo)
The four-star Anděl's Hotel Prague
opened in June. It is one of the two newest portions (along with
Village Cinemas) of Anděl City, a 100,000 m2 - and growing - development
by Austria-based UBM. The bold, unequivocally modern design of this
five-storey, 239-room hotel immediately sets it apart from anything
currently offered in Prague. It is operated by Vienna International
Hotels and Resorts, who run a total of six hotels in Prague, including
the well-known Savoy and Le Palais, the latter also newly-opened
by UBM.
The lobby, accessible through a wall of glass, is
fresh and bright. The reception desk, a monolith of hewn stone,
is set deliberately low to break down the traditional formal and
physical barriers between guest and staff. Inset writing blocks
are of stacked glass.
Conference facilities, located on the first floor,
are flanked by pre-conference area and a restaurant. Glass-walled
private dining rooms offer further meeting possibilities. The conference
area is divisible into nine rooms, while the adjacent cinema offers
further opportunities for conferencing.
Lobby bar - quiet corner under the stairway to the
first floor.
The rooms, like the lobby, are flooded by light
thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows. The furniture is simple in polished
laquer and glass - eg, a cube holds mini-bar and multi-media system
including DVD. Wall-high sheets of glass instead of the usual ceramic
tile in the washroom are both a functional advantage and an aesthetic
gesture.
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from the outside
Peter Eckerstorfer
co-managing director of UBM, project
developer
What was your goal in creating
a new four-star hotel to serve Prague in the burgeoning Anděl
district?
"Anděl City as a whole has contributed a great deal in
changing the character of Smichov from an industrial quarter
to a modern, high-standard business district. Our ambition
with this hotel was to get a product which represents something
new for Prague and in the same time remains in line with the
great tradition of high quality in architecture. We tried
to realize our vision not only with a reference to the past
but also as a mirror of today's design trends. With this in
mind, we chose D3a-Studio from Prague for the exterior and
Jestico and Whiles from London for the interior design. It
was important that the hotel be a symbiosis of the highest
aesthetic quality, ideal functional needs and practicality
of construction - and both ateliers have succeeded in creating
just such a product."
from the inside
Roman Ray Straub
general manager Anděl's Hotel Prague
How do you, as operator of
this hotel, feel about its distinctive modern design? How
does that design suit its function as Anděl's Hotel?
"It is a minimalist and state-of-the-art design that
fits the business person and business traveler, as well as
the tourist with a sense of adventure. The unique design is
very practical and versatile, yet with its bold look and striking
colors, is never boring. In short, it is timeless, yet hip."
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