HotelChatter

Spain Hotel Reviews

Frank Gehry's Weird Titanium Hotel Roof Entices Us

March 5, 2007 at 12:12 PM | 0 Comments

Architects with really "out there" ideas must be hated by engineers and drafters, but we love 'em. Frank Gehry, the man behind Spain's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, has done it again by designing a spooky wave of a structure that's also a luxury hotel, described well in a recent LA Times review as looking "more like a preliminary, freehand sketch than a finished building".

This highly non-standard building is in fact the Hotel Marques De Riscal, located 75 miles south of Bilbao in vineyard country. It's one of those hotels where you almost wouldn't mind if the bed was uncomfortable or the food cold, because just living inside such a building is the key part of the experience, as in the reviewer's own guest room:

When the curtains part at the push of a button, you see a picture window with angular contours, erratically tilted panes and a zigzagging window seat. The undercarriage of the roof, wrapped in pink, gold and silver titanium ribbons, is visible in the foreground.

According to her, the food isn't cold and the service is actually great, although not everybody who's stayed there so far agrees. After admiring the titanium ribbon of a roof (sourced, incidentally, in Russia and Australia!), you can enjoy excellent local wines in the bar, spoil yourself at the Caudalie Vinothérapie spa (all treatments based on grapes--really!), or indulge on tasty Rioja-style food--the hotel restaurant gets advice from Michelin-star chef Francis Paniego, although their website tries to make it sound like the restaurant itself owns the star.

And while the Marques De Riscal is kind of in the middle of nowhere, this particular nowhere probably has enough pretty landscapes plus good wineries with plenty to eat and drink to keep you occupied for a couple of days.

Photo: Adrian Taylor/Starwood Hotels

Related Stories:
· Hotel Marques De Riscal reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Gehry's First Hotel Sparkles in Rioja Alavesa [LA Times]
· Frank Gehry, Under the Influence [HotelChatter]