One Hotel

Like an Italian macho who insists on wearing sunglasses whatever the hour, the One Hotel on the hills above Siracusa, Eastern Sicily oozes bravado and pretension. If a lobby dominated by views through glass walls to a two-floor gymnasium is not enough of a showy statement, then an all-black restaurant serving sushi in a conservative and parochial corner of deepest Sicily is certainly brave. Throw in an external elevator extension framed in rusting sheet steel and wall of lava and you have a hotel that references the locale via the construction techniques of the shipbuilding trade and the lively volcano Mount Etna nearby.

Owner Annibale Linguanti, who runs a locally based textile business, wanted to see the fusion of active life in the hotel. The lobby level view of gym, bar and restaurant fits the bill, even if it is somewhat disconcerting to see the body-conscious working out as you check-in. The second level of the gym is underneath and whilst still having natural daylight as the hotel is built on a slope, allows for a little less show. If the lobby-gym and its criss-cross of sloping steel walkways, glass bound corridors or ‘visual tunnels’, and micro-perforated steel panels were not perplexing enough, the approach to the restaurant is also odd. A collective of high chairs and tables sit to one side, then comes a series of freestanding washbasins, receiving water from chrome pipes hanging down from the ceiling. Then come the toilets followed by the bar and finally the restaurant. Good though the sushi is, it’s hard to see it catching on even with the decorative bonsai. The all-black of the restaurant is also quite a challenge at breakfast, where interestingly for a hotel so focused on the body beautiful there is no ‘fitness’ or ‘healthy’ option.

Linguanti sought to extend the use of black beyond the restaurant not only because it is still fashionably unusual in a lodging context, but also because it is atmospheric. Moreover it is also practical. The shaded sanctuary provided by the black concrete flooring, perforated screening and casework are a blessed relief from the bright Sicilian sunlight outside. The heavy blackout curtains in the guestrooms are an absolute necessity for the rooms facing the Mediterranean where the fierce morning sun gives them an ethereal pink glow.

The black theme in the guestrooms continues with a solid-coloured black carpet nightmare for housekeeping. The bathrooms are all black and despite being compact, a vestige of the former 1950s three-star hotel’s footprint, still manage to include a bidet. The hardness of the shiny black tiles and chrome bathroom furniture are compensated by the natural timber decked shower area. The black-on-black embossed floral print across one guestroom wall enhances a sophisticated and showy look complemented by the gray-green of the cupboard casework and doors. The built-in desk unit is in a matt white, as are the three plastic chairs by Haberli for Alias that are somehow crammed into the approximately 30m2 room.

The project is the first hotel for local architect and interior designer Mario Rizza. The original structure of the former hotel was kept intact and a second wall of exposed rusting steel beams added. “This simple and strong structure is an expression of local skills and materials”, explains Rizza. The ‘muscular’ extension creates additional space for and access to the second floor of the gym and the spa area both below the entrance level. The spa, or ‘comfort zone’, incorporates a Hammam, Finnish sauna, hydrotherapy pool and cascading shower room built right into the exposed rocky grotto discovered under the hotel. There are also treatment rooms for ‘clinical beauty’ under the guidance of the hotel’s own doctor.

The new structure incorporates an external lift shaft, the rusting steel exterior of which rises up besides the columnar end profile of the original building. Here are the guestrooms ending in ‘01’ which have circular beds, built in cupboards, and dressing table units that make the most of the rounded floorplan. These rooms overlook the driveway lined with highly scented cypress trees and the fuchsia-pink glory of the box-like villa of the former hotel owner. The villa now houses two meeting rooms, one with a fabulous crocodile-skin covered desk.
The balconies of the old building were considered too small and therefore removed; only one of the two junior suites has a terrace. Having got rid of the terraces Rizza replaced them with a façade of perforated metal screens that become illuminated light boxes at night. Rooms on the lower floors have small Zen like gardens extending out over the gym below. For ‘Zen’ read white pebbles, timber decking and bonsai. Overlooked by all the rooms above and the surrounding residential blocks, guests may prefer the Dedon furniture of the roof terrace as an alternative.

One of the greatest challenges faced by Rizza was the completion timescale. Just six months were allowed to take the run down existing hotel and turn it into the striking design example it is today. A goal still met in spite of discovering the grotto beneath the hotel only once the project was already underway. This fluid approach to the contemporaneous changes in design can also be seen in the third floor corridor walls. Ingeniously crafted in plaster, the walls capture a snapshot of the flow of molten lava. With its black-red sheen it looks alive whilst also being reminiscent of congealing blood. Strong images that resulted in Linguanti requesting a toning down of the process on other floors that now follow a more bucolic, floral motif.

The striking design of One Hotel and its interiors set it apart from the traditional approach to hospitality adopted in the area. The steel and black themes are strong, dominant and appeal to a certain crowd. The hotel is certainly not one for everyone but the need to further differentiate the hotel by way of the loose Asian associations comes across as something of an afterthought. At least the bonsai and sushi menu are easy enough to remove if desired.

One sport & beauty design hotel
Via Diodoro Siculo 4,
96100 Siracusa, Sicily, Italy
Tel +39 0931 411 355
www.onehotel.it

Rooms: 44 guestrooms

Food: Restaurant

Leisure:  Gym, Spa

Facilities: Roof Terrace, 3 Meeting Rooms