A Critical Look: Hotel Marqués De Riscal in Elciego
What can you achieve with 60 million euros in hotel construction? You could, for example, commission Steven Holl to build five hotels like the wine hotel in Langenlois (see page 214ff.). This would result in approximately 400 guest rooms. Or you could commission 50 low-budget inns like the ryokan in Tokyo featured on page 182, creating over 1,000 small tatami rooms. A third option, however, would be to have a Californian star architect with Canadian roots design a media-savvy sculpture for a traditional Spanish winery. The majority of the sum would be used for this crowd-puller (plus an underground bottling plant). Since, even with the best will in the world, the organically fragmented sculpture could only accommodate 14 luxury suites in addition to two restaurants and a wine bar, the remaining funds would be used to construct an equally unassuming and seemingly unplanned functional building next to it, incorporating another 29 hotel rooms. If they then manage to completely omit this unpopular wing structure from all brochures and publications, a major spectacle is guaranteed. The marketing concept works, and on the outskirts of a dreary Spanish village, room rates between 300 and 700 euros per night can be achieved.
