Case Study - Hotel Marques de Riscal

Hotel Marques de Riscal

Located in in the village of Elciego, at the heart of Spain’s wine-growing La Rioja region, Frank O. Gehry created an incredible piece of architecture in the form of a 5 star hotel.

"A series of rectilinear elements, clad in sandstone, combined with sweeping panels of gold and pink titanium, and mirror finish stainless steel."

The site for the building is approached along a road that leads through the vineyards and through existing wine production facilities that date primarily from the mid-nineteenth century. The site within the winery’s compound was challenging. Set behind the historic stone factories and backed by a steep hill, the new building does not nestle into the vineyards; instead, it stands over a paved plaza that covers a new bottle cave (accessible by direct elevators from the hotel). Gehry’s structure rises on three stone piers to capture views and assert its sculptural presence.

Structure

The overall structural view of the building below presents the many beams and columns that are used to hold the complex curved form in place.

The contrasting shots above and below present the curvilinear canopy from underneath and overhead. It portrays the 'skeleton' and the 'skin' of the structure.

Plans

Site Plan


Second Floor Plan

Third Floor Plan

Section

Model

This physical scaled model of the Marques de Riscal Hotel emphasises on the mirror aluminium finished, titanium panels. A suitable mixture of materials were chosen to portray this succesfully.

References

Websites:
http://www.arcspace.com/gehry_new/index.html?main=/gehry_new/prague/prag.htm
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1539
http://library.sl.nsw.gov.au/search~S2/?searchtype=X&searcharg=frank+gehry+complete+works&searchscope=2&sortdropdown=-&SORT=DZ&extended=1&searchlimits=&searchorigarg=Xfrank+gehry%26SORT%3DD
http://www.arcspace.com/architects/gehry/riscal_winery2/riscal2.html
http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/BTS/archives/hotels/06_Marques/

Books:
Adventurous wine architecture, By Michael Webb, Erhard Pfeiffer
Cool Hotels Spain, By Martin Nicholas Kunz
Luxury Winery Estates, By Christian Datz, Christof Kullmann

Images:
http://conceptanddesign.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/hotel-marques-de-riscal-01.jpg
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/promos/Hotel_Marques_de_Riscal.jpg
http://claris.fr/slide/hotel/Diaporama_Canon1DsMk3_MarquesRiscal/images/_45R2059_LR.jpgy
http://claris.fr/slide/hotel/