HOTEL VIURA, RIOJA ALAVESA.
ARCHITECTURE: DESIGNHOUSES / BEATRIZ PÉREZ ECHAZARRETA
INTERIOR DESIGN: DESIGNHOUSES
YEAR: 2010
STYLE: CONTEMPORARY CUBIST ARCHITECTURE
COUNTRY: SPAIN
In a village where centuries-old stone houses and traditional wineries have long dictated the architectural conversation, Hotel Viura arrives with a rather different point of view. Set in Villabuena de Álava, in the heart of Rioja Alavesa, this extraordinary composition of concrete cubes looks as though someone has taken a collection of modernist buildings, given them a good shake and decided to leave them exactly where they landed.
Designed by Designhouses, the hotel is a carefully considered exercise in architectural contrast. Its irregular volumes, clad in exposed concrete and weathered steel, appear to balance precariously against one another, creating a sculptural silhouette that stands in deliberate opposition to the village’s historic surroundings. Yet the building follows the steep hillside, incorporating the natural rock into its lower level. It is rather more sensitive to its setting than first impressions might suggest.
Inside, the architecture continues its conversation with raw materials. Concrete walls meet solid timber, steel detailing and generous expanses of glass. The rooms occupy individual geometric volumes, each offering a slightly different perspective on the village, its church and the distant Sierra de Cantabria. There is a pleasing honesty to the material palette, softened by warm textures and carefully chosen furnishings.
Above it all, a rooftop terrace opens towards the surrounding vineyards and mountains. Below, the hotel’s wine cellar provides a fitting connection to the region’s centuries-old winemaking traditions. In Rioja, after all, even the most radical architecture knows better than to ignore the wine.
A LITTLE ARCHITECTURAL DISOBEDIENCE, A GREAT DEAL OF CONCRETE, AND PROOF THAT GOOD DESIGN DOESN’T ALWAYS FOLLOW THE VILLAGE RULES.
