hospitalitystyle.com

(Spring 2010) posted on Tue Apr 06, 2010 EDT

Starck Contrasts: French design rebel Philippe Starck plays with proportion, period and perception to create a magical yet livable luxe hotel.

Tweet

By Mary Scoviak

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Contrast is integral to making hospitality design feel modern. Venice's new Palazzina Grassi makes the mix explosive. This jewel box of 16 rooms and six apartment suites on the Canal Grande demonstrates what happens when opposites collide in a conceptual centrifuge run by visionary Italian hotelier Emanuele Garosci and unconstrained French design force Philippe Starck. The result pushes lifestyle design forward, leveraging the tension between traditional and contemporary materials, real and surreal scale and expected versus unexpected elements. Guests get a kaleidoscope view of what it means to live like a Venetian.

It's the intense layering of contrast throughout the interiors of this Design Hotels member that's the takeaway. Most designers will never have Starck's eye nor an enlightened client like Garosci who asks for something unique and provides the necessary capital, time and creative freedom to achieve that. But they can explore the idea of manipulating basic materials and juxtaposing them in thought-provoking ways.

For example, after passing through Palazzina Grassi's 16th century façade, guests expect to see mirrors—specifically the gilt-edged versions synonymous with Venice. But Starck plays up the modernity of this little palace hotel with two exquisitely simple oversized squares. He takes opposition to a deeper level by hanging them on rustic facing walls of individually cut and exposed bricks. Then, he challenges guests to expand their perception of mirrors by using the top of each as a backdrop for an illuminated glass artwork by French artist/sculptor Aristide Najean.

Objects as mirrors can be more functional than they appear. There's the 22-ft. mirrored communal high dining table, a fraternal twin to the marble monolith that shares the center of the restaurant. The goal, says Starck, is “to take the diners into an interactive dimension of heightened sensory stimulation”—in other words, a millennial re-interpretation of Venice's popular meeting places, cicchetterias or osterias. Soaring mirrors double as headboards in the guest rooms and suites. Continuity can be measured by the numbers: as in the 289 backlit mirrors spread throughout the 30,000-sq.-ft. building.

It's hard to think about Venice without thinking about glass. For his first hotel in Italy, Starck looked for different applications that would shake up guests' thinking. The most memorable is the transparent glass wardrobe that frames the centered bed in the apartment suites. But even chandeliers move away from the mundane, thanks to glass tendrils that trail like mist from the dining room's fixtures.

Color has been a signature of Venice for centuries. In Palazzina
Grassi, Starck maintains the velvety rich depth of saturated Renaissance hues, but dials up the value: bright reds, acid almond-green, neon blues. These vivid tones alternately clash and harmonize in the patterns of the huge rugs that dramatize the public spaces in a futuristic take on tapestries.

Garosci sought to retain the atmosphere of the noble Renaissance houses that were repurposed as the hotel, but again, with a twist. Yes, guests can take a leap into unreality with the surrealistic paintings that anchor the ends of the corridors or the stylized masks ingeniously worked into some of Najean's lights. But they can get back into their comfort zone with solidly classic references, such as the dining room's proper colonnade, the lounge's white-shaded candelabra and the private dining room's wood-paneled walls.

“We weren't aiming to be at the forefront of design,” insists Garosci. “We wanted to convey an innovative concept through the details, the materials, the mental games and cultural references. The goal was to use these factors to help guests understand a beauty that is less predictable.”