Pianeta Hotel International

For hotel industryand real estate

The Italian Guide 2012

201220122012INSIDE OUR UPDATE DIRECTORY OF HOTEL CONTRACT SUPPLIERS

AND LATEST HOSPITALITY TRENDS. MORE THAN 300

BUSINESS CONTACTS AT YOUR SERVICE

internationalPIANETAHOTEL

cop_def_2011_12.indd 1 16/11/11 15.07

8trends & stylethe Italian path to sustainability

008_09_trend_style.indd 8 10/11/11 14.10

PIANETAHOTELinternational

& styleThe challenge for hotels will therefore be that of becoming sustainable. Celebrated architects such as Marco Piva, Renata Giacomini, Simone Micheli, Chiara Caberlon and Ermanno Caroppi, Simone Menichini, Stefano Chiocchini and Sergio Bizzarro have provided concrete examples of hotels and spas built according to “eco” principles

by Paola Leone

trends & styletrends & style& styletrends & style& style

For hotel industryand real estate

The Italian Guide

008_09_trend_style.indd 9 10/11/11 14.10

10

original project. A true sustainable project, in fact, must take into account the context in which the hotel is located, and any natural-istic values of the site in order to have as little impact on them as possible. Right from the feasibility study phase the designer needs to conceive, for the structure, the volumes and materials best able to merge with the surroundings. As a second step, the designer needs to choose the construction materials, energy installations and technologies best suited to the creation of an “eco” building. «Insulating the building is your first move, unquestionably. Hotels with external walls and door and window fittings constructed so as not to disperse heat in winter

Left, the hall of the Holiday Inn Milano Nord created by Chiara Caberlon and Ermanno Caroppi according to principles of economical sustainability

A hotel is a “living” structure which consumes every day, per person, about four times the amount of

a civil building. And if, only a few years ago, a request by a ho-tel to “leave only dirty towels on the floor” seemed a laudable initiative, now it appears laughable. Because, if we intend to cut consumption and transform a hotel into a sustainable structure, economically and environmentally, we need to look at global pro-jectual and administrative strategies. The challenge for hotels in the near future will therefore be that of becoming sustainable. The problem is to understand what can be done to achieve this aim. One element is certain, though: everything depends on the

010_28_sostenibilita.indd 10 10/11/11 14.11

international

and to guarantee an ideal temperature in summer have straight away cut their electricity costs by 50%», explains the architect Renata Giacomini. A hotel created according to eco-sustainability principles will not only damage the environment less, it will con-sume less than a traditional one and so allow a greater profit margin. The path of sustainability, then, is undoubtedly advanta-geous for hotel managers. Furthermore, the hotel, whether new or restructured, will have to be submitted for energy certification, which assesses the building’s consumption level and assigns a “class” from A+ to G (Class A+ represents the lowest consump-tion, Class G the highest). If everything has been done perfectly and the hotel obtains class A+, it can also aspire to the prestige of an environmental quality logo. The environmental quality logos recognized in Italy are the Iso 14001 or Emas (Environmental Management and Audit Scheme) and the Ecolabel, the European logo of ecological quality in the service of tourist structures (Deci-sion 2003/287/Ec), “founded on scrupulous compliance with a series of criteria that allow the structure receiving it to be distin-guished, at European level, for its commitment to improving envi-ronmental quality…”. Hotels eligible for an environmental quality logo are therefore those “distinguished by their commitment to protecting the environment and, consequently, the health of the

Left (and at page 12), the Ora Hotel Bresso, a four-star business hotel near the airport, for which Caberlon and Caroppi have undertaken the interior design. Below, a rendering of Le Terrazze restructured by the architect Marco Piva


12population”. Newly built and restructured eco-sustainable hotels are proliferating throughout Italy. Celebrated architects such as Marco Piva, Renata Giacomini, Simone Micheli, Chiara Caberlon and Ermanno Caroppi, Simone Menichini, Stefano Chiocchini and Sergio Bizzarro have provided concrete examples of hotels and spas built or restructured ac-cording to principles of sustainability. The secret of creating a sustainable hotel therefore depends, once again, on the quality of the project. «And it’s preferable to have a single referent, one designer who undertakes to follow all the steps of the project, or who can at least coordinate and supervise the various planning stages, from the structure to the energy installations, the interior design and the furnishing», explains the architect Daniele Meni-chini, who has just completed the interior design and renewed energy installations of Ai Cadelach, a hotel with low impact on both the environment and on consumption, and so on running

costs. Because the sustainability of a hotel inevitably results in lower costs and increased profitability. «A sustainable hotel adopts innovative and intelligent solutions for saving, optimizing costs and educating users to respectful prac-tices towards the environment and waste. The tourist’s experi-ence is not just passive, therefore, but also one of education and edification - explains Biagio del Duca, hotel manager, trainer, Enea Energy Manager and administrator of the consultancy company Hotel Sostenibile (www.hotelsostenibile.it) -.The sustainable hotel shows that it restores part of its profits to the collective wellbeing. That is why people pay for it more willingly».


international

and comfort. To understand the secret of this “recipe” we put the question to them directly. «Let’s begin with the restructuring of the Holiday Inn Milano Nord, near the ring road: a location that lent itself to the idea of a “walk in” typology of hotel. And since the initial investment had been low, on account of the location on the outskirts, the restructuring, too, had to stay within a limited budget», says Ermanno Caroppi. «Point one: we’ve created furnishings to design with cheap, tough materials that are easy to clean. The tops of the desks and bedside tables are in laminate and the cupboard façades are in melamine. Given the simplicity of the furnishing, we entrusted the atmosphere of the rooms to the lighting and to wallpaper and fabrics

Over 50 interior design and architectural projects created for hotels belonging especially to international chains, but also cinemas, theatres, auditoriums. All these are to the credit of the architects Chiara Caberlon and Ermanno Caroppi (www.caberloncaroppi.com), who also deal in consultancy and teaching. Young and dynamic, Caberlon and Caroppi make one concept the starting point of each of their projects: diversification, on the basis of the quality of the structure and the genius loci. This is what makes their hotels welcoming, far from any standardization, even when they are three - or four - star establishments, and the client’s request has been basically one: keep the costs down. Even so, they do not neglect style

The architects Chiara Caberlon and Ermanno Caroppi have created over 50 interior and architectural projects for hotel chains. For Ora Hotels they have undertaken the interior design of the structure at Bresso (on right)

Low cost luxury, a challenge for a new sustainability


14

personalized by us». The bed heads are therefore in PVC printed with a large flower on a blue background, a colour that unifies the 128 bedrooms and the bathrooms; the common spaces are personalized with mega-photos of old Hollywood stars: men for the 5 congress halls, women for the lounge and restaurant. Ceramic flooring that looks like stone and some fascinatingly designed and shaped items in the hall complete the character of the hotel, designed and delivered in the record time of one year. A similar operation in its limited budget and request for style and rapid delivery was the restructuring of the Ora Hotel Bresso, a four-star business hotel near the airport. This latter is an element that the two architects did not fail to exploit; the design of the made-to-measure furnishing is permeated by reference to aeroplanes and aerodynamics, from the two “wings” of the reception desk to the red armchairs recalling aeroplane seats and the “runway” that marks out with its sinuous

path the internal court of the building. In this case, too, therefore, specially designed furnishing, tough but cheap, and a striking choice of colours: red and white. Personalized interventions can be seen on the walls, such as the perforated metal plate screening the windows of the breakfast room, printed with the vintage image of an aviator.

Left, the bar/breakfast room of the Holiday Inn created by the Studio, with a blow-up of Audrey Hepburn in the foreground, one of the divas chosen for the relaxation zone. Below, the lounge area of the Ora Hotel City of Bresso, with the aerodynamic bookshelves in the foreground and armchairs by Moroso recalling aeroplane seats


Documents

Pianeta Hotel International