Story and photography by Susan McKee
 

Faena Hotel + Universe
Martha Salotti 445 (C1107CMB)
Puerto Madero,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
+54 11 4010 9000
Reservations: reservations@faenaexperience.com

For some people, over-the-top just isn’t enough. One of them is Alan Faena of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Born in 1965 to a Syrian Argentine family that made its fortune in textile manufacturing, the fashion designer turned business developer bought one of the largest wheat mills and grain storage facilities in the docklands in the early 2000s and transformed it into nothing less than a “universe”.

“Hotel” was just too small a word to encompass his vision: a knock-‘em-dead gorgeous hotel, plus residences, plus shops, plus restaurants, plus galleries – a whole redevelopment in a once-derelict neighborhood near the River Plata called Puerto Madero. Faena has created his own decadent wonderland: a world outside of time and space, although he himself has said that each interior space is based on some part of Buenos Aires’ history.

When I was in Buenos Aires, I stayed there, on the sixth floor of the Faena Hotel and Universe. With interiors by French maverick designer Philippe Starck, the place is designed not merely to impress, but to wow its guests. The overall impression is decadent -- a belle époque aesthetic touched with modern elegance.

The Faena Hotel is sited in a completely gutted and repurposed industrial building, a conversion leading to some rather eccentric spaces: a 10-meter-tall front door of deep garnet glass set well back from the street, a long and narrow but soaring hallway called El Cathedral connecting the public spaces on the ground floor, a pool nestled between one of the restaurants and the wall at the front of the property. The dominant color is red – a deep, rich, blood red. It’s offset by lots of white walls, black marble, gold moldings and silvery mirrors. The restoration is said to have cost somewhere north of $100 million.

Take El Bistro, for example, the dominant décor item in this most elegant of formal restaurants are unicorn heads. A dozen or so of them – pure white but with ruby-colored eyes – hanging like hunting trophies on the white walls above Empire-style gold-studded white leather banquettes and chairs surrounding tables covered with white cloths and festooned with crystal bowls of red roses.

El Mercado, the more casual restaurant (where breakfast is served), is elegantly cluttered with memorabilia of historic porteño society such as family portraits in intricate silver frames. The ceiling is antiqued tin.

Guest rooms are spare and lavish at the same time. There’s nothing subtle here, from the red velvet drapes that open at the touch of a button to the silver faucets in the bathrooms that look like swan heads. Leather armchairs, flat screen televisions and surround-sound stereos are almost afterthoughts. There is, of course, high-speed Internet and Wi-Fi. Some of the rooms facing the city skyline and the port have incredible vistas; others look out over the nearby Ecological Reserve and the Río de la Plata (as mine did).

I was a guest before the spa opened, but friends who have been there since can’t stop raving about its red, gold and black oriental harem décor and steamy Turkish bath.

Although stopping for drinks in the Library is exquisite, taking in dinner and a show at the hotel’s Rojo Tango was special delight. The tango dancers are quite literally close enough to touch, affording an intimacy not usually found at a hotel floor show.

The Faena Hotel and Universe (http://www.faenahotelanduniverse.com), opened in October 2004, has about 100 rooms (the number changes as the spaces morph from hotel to residential and back again). Rates are fungible, starting at about $300. Instead of traditional desk clerks and concierges, the Faena assigns guests to “Experience Managers”, who are tasked with making sure that guests wishes are anticipated as well as fulfilled. I booked my trip through Borello Travel & Tours (http://www.borellotravel.com). It’s listed with The Leading Hotels of the World.

 

 

 

© February 2010 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.

 

Issue:
January
2012