Ohla Eixample Hotel

Barcelona, Spain

Hospitality & Living

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About Project

Ohla Eixample is one of Barcelona's most prestigious 5-star hotels. Located in the heart of the city's modernist Eixample district, between the Avinguda Diagonal and the Rambla, it was designed by the architect Daniel Isern, who succeeded in skilfully converting the steel structure of a 1960s office building into a new symbol of Catalan luxury. The hotel's facade has a particularly distinctive design that consists of a light-coloured grid made of an irregular pattern of 1000 ceramic pieces that are mainly rectangular but also include a number of squares. The surface of the grid is extremely innovative and consists of a texture created by an algorithm inspired by Vivaldi's “The Four Seasons”. The ceramic pieces, in fact, are scored with a series of marble-like veining effects that create an attractive interplay of light and shadow during the day. At night, the artificial lighting designed by Maurici Gines from the Artec3 studio, intervenes to create a series of dynamic effects. 6 watt, 3000 K LED Trick luminaires with a 360° light blade emission have been installed on the left vertical side of the rectangles along with a DMX control system that turns each individual device, on and off and up and down, as required. The result is a fascinating dance of light and shadow that moves across the entire expanse of the facade. Maurici Gines has also designed a lighting system for the hotel interiors that enhances their combination of raw material finishes and contemporary taste and design. IN30 and Laser Blade devices have been installed in the deliberately visible steel structures and in special tracks in the false ceilings to light the hotel's communal areas. The comfortable mood of these areas is created by diffuse, even lighting, emphasized in certain points by accent lighting that generally comes from decorative style luminaires, like the ones used in the restaurant area. At the Olha hotel, light helps constructs a sense of identity and ensures it stands out from its surrounding urban context, but, most of all, it creates a mood of luxurious comfort for its guests.