Functionality and expressiveness—essential to attracting and retaining guests—are the foundations of successful hotel interior design. Our project intertwines these two aspects, drawing inspiration from the richness of the building and its unique context.

The site’s history, where all the marble for the Duomo passed through until the 1960s, inevitably shaped the design. Water and marble emerge as recurring themes, sometimes explicit, sometimes suggested, informing the spatial and material choices.
The entrance, gallery, and restaurant form the interface between hotel and city, host and guest. On the ground floor, the core concepts—the marble’s journey on water and the idea of the “hidden sculpture”—are most clearly expressed. At the same time, functionality guided the layout, ensuring clear and efficient circulation and minimizing overlaps between guests and other users.
The gallery’s coffered ceiling inspired two design directions: a two-dimensional square-based floor pattern, recalling the Duomo, and a three-dimensional interpretation through “cubes.” These reference Michelangelo’s idea of sculpture emerging from marble through subtraction: solid cubes in raw marble, lighter versions, and virtual frames suggesting the original marble block.

Water is a central element, recalling the Darsena and the transport of marble. “Water cubes” and a flowing water feature connect the hotel visually and symbolically to the Darsena. Terraces echo the ground floor language, with grids and cubes transformed into planters.
The project includes spa and wellness areas, both indoor and outdoor. Guest rooms translate the overall concept into an intimate scale: calm, almost monochromatic spaces defined by textures and materials. The headboard evokes the idea of being “inside the cave,” integrating a luminous element, while furnishings remain minimal and closely tied to the architecture.