The 4th floor of the Puerta Americas Hotel in Madrid, Spain. Each floor is designed by a different architect, some of them being quite phenomenal, such as Mori, Hadid and Nouvel's work. The most experimental of the floors was done by Plasma Studio (Eva Castro and Holger Kehne). The continuous folding and sharp angles of the metal floor walls and ceiling gave the space a very disconcerting feel, at times I walked into walls when I became disoriented. That being said, it was an amazing space to inhabit, the walls folding into benches that folded into the floor, all conceptions of the way interior space should be treated were discarded.

This image is of the central hall of the floor, with rooms to the left and right down hallways. On the right you can see a wall/bench construction, and on the left there is another wall and a free-standing sculptural element connecting ceiling to floor, and also being a hollow occupiable form. (Albeit slightly hard to see, it was the same when I was standing in the space. the ambiguity is from the architecture, not from the image.) It was this that I walked into without seeing it.

Plasma Studio's idea for the fit-out was to move away from the stereotype of a hotel as an anodyne and homogenous place. They experimented with the differentiation of space by developing the surface area, revealing its three-dimensional capabilities and allowing the relationship between the room and guest to be based on cognitive behaviour rather than a nostalgic approach.



Madrid, Spain
March 2008