Forgot to mention that we had dinner in Hotel Puerta America, Madrid. The hotel is designed by Jean Nouvel and each of the 13 floors are designed by different architects. We checked with the reception staff and were told that non-guests could see the ground floor - reception, restaurant, bar and the top floor bar. We went up in the lift. Fortunately there were two guests in the lift with us. They used their swipe card to get out on floor 9 and we snuck out after them. On checking the website now, the floor was designed by Richard Gluckman. It was grey, even the lighting felt grey. Doors to the rooms were inset from the corridor and the gap was illuminated, with the door number written on the lightbox on the ground. Stylish. Reminded me of Corb's corridor in the Marseilles apartment because he spoke of the importance of a light at each door.
The top floor bar was orange; lit in orange lights with orange furniture. Not the most relaxing! But offering good views of the night-lit city.
The bar on the ground floor was empty and doesn't stick in my mind for any powerful design reason!
We ate in the restaurant. A bit pretentious for my liking! Fantastic tea trolley with jars upon jars of different tea varieties but the giant trolley was clumsily pushed around and didn't fit between tables to offer diners a proper view. A bit nonsensical! The food was decent though not memorably tasty and it was presented in modern trying-to-be-trendy fashion. I had potato souffles as a side - basically puffs of air inside a potato like balloon, tasted like a crisp.
http://www.hoteles-silken.com/hpam/index.php
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