H Renaissance Barcelona Fira (Jean Nouvel)

The Hotel Renaissance Barcelona Fira, was designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel and completed in 2012. Together with Toyo Ito's buildings, it is one of the projects that are part of the new layout of Plaça Europa in L'Hospitalet. Nouvel, who won the Pritzker Prize in 2008, emulated the height of the surrounding buildings. The hotel stands 110 m high and consists of one black and three white façades. The building is divided into two almost-identical rectangular prisms, connected by a giant, open, multi-level atrium with a roof terrace planted with trees and with a swimming pool. The hotel entrance is on the side with the black façade and has a glass canopy above it. The atrium resembles a cleft between the blocks where the guest rooms are located and is a complex structure with staircases and walkways. There are plants and trees on nearly all levels, creating authentic elevated gardens, as well as on the floor with the restaurant. The structural system is relatively conventional and uses concrete porticoes with windows that are seldom more than 10 m high.