Design Hotel in Barcelona

In Barcelona’s Eixample district, dating from the end of the 19th century, the Tragaluz group, which successfully operates a number of restaurants and bars, has built its first hotel, the Omm. Here, too, the base is formed by a restaurant, which is situated on the ground floor. The “Moo”, as it is called, offers imaginative Catalan cuisine, while the fashionable scene has found a new meeting place in the adjoining bar. The bright limestone facade of this eight-storey hotel seems to curl out in part. Curved sections in front of the balconies direct the view from the interior to the nearby boulevard Passeig de Gràcia, while at the same time screening off the rooms from noise and prying eyes. In view of the tight, block-like urban development here, a planted metal layer was created as a visual screen on the courtyard face. The guest rooms are broader than the long, narrow spaces found in many hotels. In the almost square plan form, the bathrooms are located along the facade and thus receive natural light. They are divided from the main spaces solely by a white cupboard and are thus integrated into the rooms, which are visually enlarged in this way. On the seventh floor, an elegant roof terrace with a swimming pool and bar affords a view over the city and the roofscape of Gaudi’s Casa Milà only one block away. The ground floor is also notable for its spatial breadth. Here, a lobby, bar and restaurant form an open sequence of spaces that extends beneath the entire length of the courtyard. These facilities are daylighted from a patio finished with bamboo strips and aluminium mirrors and via nine funnel-like roof lights. The interior design is distinguished by the use of natural materials such as oak parquet and furnishings; by textiles in restrained natural tones; and by dark-brown and grey upholstery. Reflected in this clear, subdued planning is the name “Omm”, a Buddhist mantra that is meant to symbolize the calm, relaxed atmosphere of the hotel. All this is accentuated by the new 400 m2 spa area in the neighbouring building, an extension to the hotel that was erected last year and that contains 32 further guest rooms.