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The Axel Hotel Madrid Achieves Character Through Color

06.12.19 | By
The Axel Hotel Madrid Achieves Character Through Color

The AXEL hotel chain is specifically geared to the LGBTQ community and their philosophy is to create free spaces where sexual diversity is welcome and promoted.

Located in “El Barrio de Las Letras,” their newest offering is Axel Hotel Madrid, a palatial 19th-century building that’s quick to turn heads. The hotel’s more traditional and regal features such as lavish ceilings and baroque decorative patterns are matched with modern accents, from a scarlet lip chair in the courtyard to deep violet lights illuminating an underground nightclub, Bala Perdida Club.

In Madrid, the design team’s objective was to create a hotel which “exuded an atmosphere of liberty” so as to invite a diverse clientele.

The hotel achieves its unique character through the use of color. The common areas are decorated with posters, brightly lit cinema and music references, neon-colored signage, and mannequins.

The hotel leaned on an assemblage of texts, words, and phrases in the entryway, from traditional sayings to popular slangs, in order to create a tongue-in-cheek impression of a literary institution.

The design team said they were inspired by the theatrical voices of the “Comedy Playhouses” of the Golden Century.

The rooms bring together two passionate references: the bullfight and the “mantilla.” The large red curtain signifies the bullfighter’s cape, the translucent black texture the feminine mantilla, and together they surround the bedroom and allow the guest to transform the room according to their mood.

The nightclub, Bala Perdida (Lost Bullet), is located inside two subterranean brick vaults. A clandestine atmosphere is created with the use of mirrors on both ends of the vault to create an “endless mirror” illusion of infinity. The violet lights turn the dark cellar into a moody, magical dance floor during hours of merriment. The drink bar works as a lamp as well, exuding warm, seductive tones into the cool basement darkness.

What: Axel Hotel Madrid
Where: Calle de Atocha, 49, 28012 Madrid, Spain
How much? Room prices start at USD $132
Design draw: Bold colors and tongue-in-cheek signages give this hotel the look of a luxurious, old-school comedy playhouse.
Book it: Visit Axel Hotel Madrid

Photos by Adrià Goula.

Keshia grew up in Singapore and moved to the U.S. to attend Dartmouth College. When she was living abroad after graduation, a chance enrollment at the Architectural Association Visiting School led to her becoming enamored with door schedules and architectural écriture. She's particularly interested in design for aging, rural architecture, and Asian design heritage.