In June of last year King Juan Carlos of Spain officially opened an extraordinary hotel building in Madrid. Over 500 awnings in 14 different colours envelop the entire façade of the Hotel Puerta America, which was designed by the star architect Jean Nouvel. The interior design of each of the twelve storeys of this five-star hotel was individually created by a different designer. For the client, the Spanish Silken Group, companies from all over the world cooperated with a total of 19 renowned, international architects to create this complex, including stars such as the Pritzker Prize winners Sir Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid.

German drives for an international project
The technical implementation of the striking sun protection system was assumed by the Italian company Model System Italia. It used three different awning models, which are operated using drives from the German manufacturer elero. The products from this company, which is domiciled in Beuren, South Germany, were selected because of their proven precision and reliability. Given the scope of the project, ease of installation was particularly important: All the drives have plug-in cables, meaning that the adapters and bearings can be “plugged in” and “locked in” quickly and easily. In addition, thanks to their compact and high-output design they require very little space. For a hotel that wants to offer a large number of generations of guests somewhere they can feel at home the quality of the technology plays an important role. The robust nature and reliability of the drives, which are maintenance-free, take these demands into account. For example, electronic travel measurement prevents the fabric of the awnings being subject to too much tension or sagging. Thanks to intelligent electronics the sun protection system is fully closed when retracted. This mechanism is gentle on the cloth, thus extending its service life.

Museum for a night
The awnings which envelop the 77-million-euro building are tautened with a material made of PVC-coated polyester. Printed on the awnings in several languages are extracts from the poem “Liberté” by the French lyricist Paul Eluard. The front of the building uses warm tones of orange and red, the reverse side strong blues. In this respect the light passing through the coloured fabric helps to determine the interior design. Each room is designed in its own individual style, with the effect that a unique atmosphere is created in combination with the sun protection system. A sojourn in the hotel thus becomes an inimitable experience. Jean Nouvel believes that staying in the 342-room Hotel Puerta America is not comparable to a visit to an ordinary hotel. As far as he is concerned the Puerta America is rather a “museum for a night”.