ROCKWELL GROUP: SEDA CLUB HOTEL IN GRANADA, SPAIN

Jewel Box Hotel References Local History and Islamic Landmarks

Rockwell Group, the leading New York based architecture and design studio, has completed the interiors for the Seda Club Hotel in Spain’s Andalusia region which is celebrated for its Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque architecture.

Hidden Away hotels specialise in hotels with an authentic link to their surrounding local history. For Seda Club Hotel, the historical inspiration was Granada’s centuries of Muslim rule, specifically the silk trade that accelerated there before surrendering complete control to the Spanish Catholic Monarchs in 1492, which brought the demise of the last Muslim-controlled polity in the Iberian Peninsula.

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For Rockwell Group’s Madrid Studio, which led the project, the starting brief was for the Seda Club Hotel to be an ultimate destination to gather, providing a cultural melting pot for global and European explorers. As such, the hotel has a luxurious social club feel, which has been achieved through use of materials such as rich woods, bronze metal, velvet, and marble that results in an opulent yet familiar aesthetic. The hotel provides guests with a series of interconnected spaces that feel exclusive, timeless, warm, and irreverent.

The central lobby and lounge areas facilitate a private members atmosphere and the only way to enter the hotel is through a secret ‘members only’ library that widens out into the comforting wood- panelled lobby lounge. In comparison to the opulent, rich materials seen in the guest rooms, the lounge is majestic and features columns throughout and walls clad in a textured emerald plaster and velvet drapery. At the adjacent lobby bar, a light installation made of glass and bronze in the shape of archery bows decorate the top of the drinks display and curve up onto the ceiling. The bar is a prominent feature complete of the space, with marble top and leather die with a polished bronze back bar and antique mirrors on the walls.

La Pájara is a Sky lounge and references the region’s numerous bird species, creating a colourful, playful rooftop space affords views of the nearby cathedral. A mosaic tile floor in a traditional local pattern is the backdrop to lush greenery in a myriad of ceramic pots. A pergola with an ornate bird and floral-patterned canopy references the elegant water fountain, which also carries the bird-inspired theme in mosaic.

The hotel contains just 21 guest rooms and at this smaller boutique scale, each one is unique. Beds have a custom leather headboard with a framework composed of brushed brass rods – from which Lamps, mirrors, and accessories are suspended. This hard structural effect is balanced using pattern and luxurious soft furnishings. Similarly, the chevron wood floors are softened with rugs and velvet drapery, while the closet walls are covered in a warm tweed-like fabric with red piping and further leather detailing to tie in with the bespoke headboards.

Tiling in the bathrooms references the glazed tile mosaics of the Alhambra, the local palace admired as the most famous monument of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world. Guests also have the option to utilise the hotel spa which takes its inspiration from Roman Baths, complete with sculptured stone and Classical forms.