Faena Hotel + Universe: El Porteno Building
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Philippe Starck and Faena Properties

The Universe done in Belle Époque style

© Nikolas Koenig

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

Philippe Starck and Alan Faena joined forces to restore the El Porteño Building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and make it the heart of a new arts district in the city. A former grainery, the seven-story structure was built in 1902 using bricks transported from Manchester, England. The designers conceived of the Faena Hotel + Universe as a temple that invites guests to participate in a world of passion, transformation, beauty, and adventure.

For guests, the transformative experience begins at the 32-foot-tall pair of entry doors made of red-stained glass. These lead into the “cathedral,” a 263-foot-long corridor that forms the central spine of the Universe. Floor-to-ceiling windows, punctuated by brick and gold velvet curtains, flank the corridor while a red carpet, atop dark lapacho hardwood floors, runs the length of it. The cathedral leads into and unites a series of spaces each of which comprises a unique world. This includes a cabaret, library, the “El Mercado” restaurant, a bistro, and a Turkish Hammam. These spaces allow the hotel’s jet-setting guests to interact and mingle.

Starck collaborated with Faena to design the interiors. Etched glass and tall crystal mirrors create optical illusions throughout various spaces in the Universe. Imperial furniture with gold clawed feet, deep red and gold velvet, and Italian marble echo the Belle Époque of a century ago—and signal an opportunity for the era’s rebirth.

A playful meeting of bygone style with modern fantasy suffuses the public spaces. El Mercado, the main restaurant of the Universe, combines hardwood floors and aluminum-tiled ceilings salvaged from original Belle Époque buildings. The library lounge invokes a decadent era with its leather sofas and imperial-style furniture, red silk curtains, and hunting accoutrements adorning the walls. Walls in the bistro, meanwhile, feature unicorn heads against a backdrop of white floors and white silk curtains. All spaces represent the art of living and the interaction of different peoples and cultures.

Formal name of Project:
Faena Hotel + Universe: El Porteno Building

Location:
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Gross square footage:
170,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$100 Million

Owner:
Faena Group

Architect:
Conceived by Alan Faena and designed by Philippe Starck

Faena Properties
Av. Juana Manso 1499 dique 2
Puerto Madero Este (C1107BDA)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
54-11-4021-5555 tel.
54-11-414-9095 fax
www.faenaproperties.com

Philippe Starck Network
18/20, Rue du Faubourg du Temple
75011 Paris, France
33-14-807-5454 tel.
33-14-807-5464 fax
info@starcknetwork.com
press@starcknetwork.com
www.phillippe-starck.com