Bulgari Hotels & Resorts
Milan
Antonio Citterio and Partners

Antonio Citterio and Partners lays on luxurious materials in the debut Boutique hotel backed by a famed Italian jeweler

© Leo Torri

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By William Weathersby, Jr.

Just off Milan's chic shopping boulevard Via Montenapoleone on a quiet street behind La Scala, the Bulgari Hotel, designed by Antonio Citterio and Partners, is an oasis of calm in the fashion capital. Adapted from a former convent that incorporates a building dating to the 18th century, the 58-room hotel surrounds a lush garden whose framework was plotted in the 1300s. The hotel still retains the feeling of a cloister, albeit a sybaritic one. A spa lap pool is lined with gold mosaic tile, while public areas are wrapped in exotic materials such as African marble, Turkish stone, and Burmese teak. Yet with the lavish surfaces counterpoised by the architect's rigorous rectilinear geometry, the effect seems almost restrained.

Bulgari joins other top Italian fashion brands, including Armani, Krizia, Versace, and Ferragamo, who have recently spun-off hotels. And the jeweler is jumping in on a grand scale. Parent company Bulgari Group has teamed with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which will manage its properties, and plans to launch six additional hotels internationally by 2008.

In Citterio, the client has enlisted a high-profile star of Italian design, known for his integrated approach to architecture, interiors, and furnishings. Among other projects, the architect has designed interiors for De Beers LV, B&B Italia [RECORD, March 2003, page 209; architecturalrecord.com], Valentino, and Cerruti. His award-winning product designs encompass furniture, lighting, plumbing, and cutlery. The Bulgari in Milan takes advantage of Citterio's wide-roving design eye; the architect selected or designed everything, down to spa sponges and custom coat hangers.

Situated on the Via Gabba, the hotel presents a new abstract, Modernist facade in juxtaposition to the street's Art Deco apartment buildings. The facade, which Citterio calls a "blank field,"is pierced by tall, oak-framed windows lined with black granite eaves, and is intended to express "refinement and lightness in contrast with the massive neighboring stone buildings," he says.

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Formal name of Project:
Bulgari Hotels & Resorts

Location:
Milan

Gross square footage:
75,0000 sq. ft.; Private garden: 40,000 sq. ft.

Owner:
Bulgari Hotels & Resorts Milano

Architect:
Antonio Citterio and Partners
Via Cerva 4 o 20122 o Milano o Italia
Tel # 39 02 7638801
Fax # 39 02 76388080
info@antoniocitterioandpartners.it
www.antonio-citterio.it