AYRE HOTEL OVIEDO

Another travel related page as we are in Toronto this week.

During our recent trip to northern Spain, we spent a night in the Ayre Hotel Oviedo, which was designed by Calatrava.

Now, I am the type of person who is absolutely content to let my wife make most if not all of the arrangements for our travels.  So I had no idea where we were staying that night.  So I had the very unique experience of seeing this building, for the first time, with my own eyes.  I did not know it existed.  I had not seen any photos of it.

Suddenly, there it was, sitting in the middle of Oviedo, looking like the Starship Enterprise had simply landed on an alien planet.   I absolutely could not believe it.  Not knowing about this, and then coming around the corner and seeing it for the first time was a very precious experience.  When do we ever get the chance to see something this radical for the first time, in it’s context.  When do we ever get the chance to make our first judgements of a major building like this by walking around it, without having google imaged social media false impressions?  Very precious.

The hotel comprises one side of the composition.  Offices take up other sides.  There is a concert hall in the middle, and there is an upscale shopping mall under it.

I think it is fantastic.  We enjoyed every minute of our stay.  Our corner room was modernist minimal, and very well detailed.  The crisp detailing carried thru.

I did my drawing that next morning, sitting in the lounge.  And I kept looking for Spock and Kirk, but I did not see them, so I guess they were still in their rooms.