Habita

Architecture Enrique Norten & Bernardo Gómez-Pimienta

Architecture Enrique Norten & Bernardo Gómez-Pimienta

Angular, glass-encased, and appearing to levitate, the building is a work of contemporary art in its own right.

The makeover of the 1950s building by TEN Arquitectos has encapsulated the 36-room hotel in a sensational floating glass box suspended from the five-story structure’s facade, mediating views and providing a stylish privacy for the cosmopolitan jet set. The hotel’s glass sheath serves as an “air-filled buffer”, an ingenious climatic and acoustic idea that also mediates the views while providing privacy.

Interior design Joseph Dirand Architecture

The glass theme extends to the interiors, with cantilevered desks and polished partitions creating unexpectedly airy spaces.

Glass and light are the leitmotifs, acting to shroud guests from prying eyes below and to create an ethereal atmosphere in this temple of modernism. Guestroom space contains only a bed, Eames chairs, and a cantilevered plane of glass serving as a desk and table, while everything else is concealed behind a polished paneled wall.