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Hesperia Hotel & Conference Centre

Hesperia Hotel & Conference Centre - Completed

RRP responded to a brief to create a new landmark building for the Hesperia Hotel Group which could also accommodate the range of facilities required for a luxury hotel. It is located in the rapidly developing urban centre of L’Hospitalet, Catalonia’s second largest city and is around 10km west of Barecelona.

The hotel provides 280 rooms over 27 storeys, a 5000m² congress and convention centre and a 4000m² health-club and spa centre. The development is set in generous public space including a park, lake and restored Romanesque chapel. The convention and fitness centres are in the low rise part of Hotel’s L-shape structure, and are partly underground. The two centres are joined by a glass entrance atrium which houses a bar and café, and is used as a meeting point and social space.

The Hesperia Tower Hotel, at 105 metres high, is the second tallest building in Catalonia and is located on the main road between the centre of Barcelona and Barcelona Airport.

A metro station links the area to the airport and the centre of Barcelona. The hotel will provide jobs as well as services for the, largely residential quarter and encourage tourists and business travellers to visit this area.

The hotel is highly visible, and has a distinctive design: Lift, staircase and service towers have a strong architectural expression and are placed at the edge of the floors as ‘servant spaces’, allowing the floor spaces to be largely open-plan. One of the restaurants is housed in a striking glazed ‘dish’ located at roof level and accessed by wall-climber lifts, which gives diners a panoramic view over L’Hospitalet and Barcelona.

Detailed design work started in September 2000. The project was completed in early 2006, and the hotel was formally opened at a ceremony in June 2006.

    City and Context

The brownfield site, ten kilometres west of Barcelona, lies adjacent to la Gran Via, a busy motorway that leads out to the airport and which is to be transformed into an attractive new boulevard. The scheme will introduce a mixture of uses into an established area, the centrepiece being a 105-metre high, 27-storey flagship hotel tower.