ID301 Report: Evaluation of Mirror Barcelona Hotel Design

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Mirror Barcelona Hotel, designed by GCA architects. It explores the hotel's design, focusing on its integration of architecture and interior elements to enhance customer satisfaction within the hospitality industry. The report examines the hotel's location in Barcelona, Spain, considering its demographic and geographic context, and identifies key competitors. It delves into the hotel's program, analyzing private, semi-public/semi-private (guestrooms), and public areas. The analysis also covers the hotel's relationship with the environment, including accessibility and exterior design. Furthermore, the report evaluates the interior planning, design, and the use of lighting, materials, colors, and furniture. The study concludes with an assessment of the hotel's overall impact on the architecture industry and its contribution to the guest experience.

Introduction
In the contemporary world, the hospitality industry has depicted a commendable job towards the
integration of design and architecture in their design in a move to meet the customer satisfaction.
Various literary articles are available online for the works of different well-known architects.
This report, however, delves into one hotel: The Mirror Barcelona designed by the GCA
architectures located in Spain. This report will primarily focus on assessing and evaluation g the
various incorporated theories, programs as well as the implications of the hotel towards the
environment. Moreover, an evaluation on the interior parts of the design will as well be provided.
Aim and objectives
The major objective of this task is to explore the design of the mirror Barcelona hotel in
Barcelona, Spain and the effect it has on various areas such as environment, public as well as
contribution towards the architecture industry. This will significantly enhance our
comprehension of the hospitality industry. To achieve this, the task will particularly narrow
down to the following aims;
 To understand the contribution of buildings towards the environment as well
as urban design
 To understand the internal planning of building designs
 To understand and analyses various hospitality-related project
Theoretical framework.
The significance of design in the hospitality industry
With the advancements in the hospitality industry speared headed mostly by technology, the
hospitality industry is trying as much so as to keep in line with the needs and recommendations
of their customers. The customer experience forms an integral part within the hospitality
industry, and thus the hospitality industry attempts to ensure that their customers feel as much
comfortable as possible. This is not limited just to the way the services are offered, but most
architects will agree to the fact that the design of the structure can actually contribute a greater
percentage towards ensuring the customer satisfaction. The design captures the various
structures, which are used within the building, the materials used, the type and design of the
furniture and many more. It is thus crucial to ensure that the design of a hotel takes care of the

needs of all the individuals including the workers, guests as well as the vendors. For purposes of
increasing the efficiency and throughput, the employee’s area needs to be incorporated in the
design, so as to make it possible for them to offer maximum customer service. In conclusion,
before erecting any hospitality structure in the contemporary world, one must first review the
design specifics of the structure as most of the people nowadays would prefer to get services in
hotels depending on how they have been designed.
Description of The Mirror Barcelona, Spain
This project takes in the refurbishment of an obsolete office building to redesign in into a four
stars hotel. The end design of the hotel is composed of seven floors, the basement, ground floor
and 63 rooms. The GCA architects were in charge of the project as well as the interior design
aspect, which together they developed to achieve an outstanding outcome. It also has a
courtyard, which performs a number of functions such as spatial continuity, airing of stairs,
allows for the penetration of the daylight to the ground floor. Along the walls of the hotel, a glass
covering completes decorates it which offers a great visual relationship from various angles.
The design of the hotel is unique, as it is different from the normal distribution of hotels. The
design has allowed an intersection of the various rooms with each other for purposes of
optimizing the width of the building of 12 meters, as well as to four bedrooms for the façade,
bringing it to a total of eight per plant. The utilization of the glasses offers a mixed feeling of
relaxation and calmness, a concept that has been extended to the interior section of the design
structure including the common rooms and the guest rooms. In addition, use of white angel
sculptures offers a stylish statement.
Additionally, the mirror Barcelona hotel is positioned on a mountain area of Barcelona, and is
characterized with a large beautifully designed swimming pool and sauna. It is located twenty
minutes from the passeig de Garcia train station , and two kilometers form the city of Barcelona.
One of the nearest hotels is the calvados Casanova hotel, which is just few miles from the magic
fountain. The completion of the redesigning was in mid-2010, preceding its opening in
September 29th, 2010.
The design concept of the mirror hotel Barcelona; is sophisticated, sleek, and standard setting. It
offers a reflection of the modem view of Barcelona; by incorporating the views of the old town

example from the rooftop pool and sun terrace. The contemporary aspect of the hotel is viewed
on the inside hotel sections.
Illustration

Location
Demographic
The mirror hotel is located on a mountainous part in Barcelona, that also happens to be the city
of Spain. Barcelona city is the second largest city in the whole of Spain and it is the capital of
Catalonia. From the 2017 statistics, it has a population of 1.6 million, with the most spoken
language being Spanish. Of this population, 17 percent of the inhabitants emanates form other
sections of Spain, with 62 percent being Barcelona residents. The rest of the population comes
from abroad, majorly from morocco, china, Pakistan, France, and Italy. By extension, majority
of the residents are aged between 18 to 64 years. In terms of the GDP, Barcelona is among the
fourth best gross domestic product, in the whole of European union . as per the gender
distribution, the males are 47% whereas the females are 53 %. The diagrams below illustrates the
above information.

Geographic
The positioning of Barcelona is considered strategic as it also experiences a Mediterranean type
of climate. The summers goes at a temperature of approximately 25 degrees Celsius, while the
winter’s stand at 9 degrees Celsius. During the summers, it is an appropriate time to have a visit
to the nation .the place has a fascinating experience; couple with the exquisite cuisine, stunning
architecture as well as a fascinating climate. Some of the most outstanding architectures such as
casa battle, park gruel among others, which are designed by renowned architects. It is easily
accessible; wither by road, air or a ship. The diagram below illustrates the geographic features of
the place.

Competitors
The major competitor of mirror hotel Barcelona is called Astoria hotel which is located just few
miles from mirror hotel. Tis is a fours star hotel which has also been designed in a fantastic
location. In this hotel, the design concept offers a creative approach which combines the
fascinating aspects of the Mexican cuisine together with the Mediterranean cuisine. In this
restaurant, o some of the most delicious ingredients are a combination of flavors and aromas,
Chiles And Ceviche’s. Other direct competitors include conica hotel. Below is an illustration of
Astoria hotel.

Program