Hotel Romeo Roma by Zaha Hadid Architects Transforms Historical Palazzo

Hotel Romeo Roma, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, has opened in the Italian capital. Situated at Palazzo Capponi on the Via di Ripetta, the building was converted into a hotel from a historic palazzo, which dates back to the 16th century. The studio aimed to create contemporary interiors featuring vaulted ceilings and three-dimensional forms that contrast with the building’s Renaissance exterior.

Ornate, gilded ceiling contrasts with modern, curving staircase and plush seating.
Hotel Romeo Roma has opened in a palazzo designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) at the end of this month in the Italian capital’s city centre.

Situated at Palazzo Capponi on the Via di Ripetta, the hotel conversion forms part of the Sistine Trident, roads that form a three-pronged main street at the centre of Rome.

An ornate, elaborately decorated bedroom with a carved, patterned wooden ceiling and wall panels.
Hotel Romeo Roma is set inside a historic building, believed to date back to the 16th century, that was designed by architect Giacomo della Porta.

ZHA converted the palazzo to a 74-room hotel that contains spaces with three-dimensional forms, vaulted ceilings and curved walls, a nod to Baroque architecture in the city.

As well as 70 guest rooms, ZHA added four larger suites on the first floor that retain original frescoes discovered in the building.

Stunning wooden paneled bedroom with modern lighting and minimalist decor.

The hotel also houses a series of public spaces both above and below ground, including a vaulted lobby, garden, rooftop, Roman Gallery, restaurant, bar and spa.

The lobby, which is decorated with pink and green veined marble, features a glass roof with a series of intersecting ribs that ZHA based on vaulted ceilings found in other Roman buildings.

“The classical interpretation of Rome as a palimpsest of architectural layers – Baroque buildings atop Renaissance and medieval structures, themselves atop their Roman predecessors – includes a final layer of verticality: ceilings of painted trompe l’oeil (fools the eye) arches, heavenly vaults and celestial chambers populated with ascendant saints, martyrs and putti,” said ZHA.

Modern bathroom with sleek white vanity and wooden closet space.
Guests can access the hotel’s spaces from the lobby, including its rooftop and bar.

The hotel bar takes its cues from traditional 1920s American bars, which have a series of rooms that can be separated with frosted glass windows and are lined with dark timber.

“With American bars as a shared reference, the bar’s design features precise, bespoke woodworking crafted from darker timbers,” said ZHA.

“A series of freestanding walls with translucent glazing employed to create small, intimate rooms for groups of patrons – as found in many of Rome’s culinary institutions.”

Elegant modern bedroom with wooden furniture, curved bed frame, and glass-enclosed vanity.
The restaurant, which occupies four rooms, has views of gardens, while ZHA carved out a set of spaces to create an outdoor courtyard.

Between the garden and the Roman Gallery, the architects added a spa and swimming pool, with a glass ceiling that also functions as the pool’s floor.

Luxurious, open-concept bedroom with curved glass walls, wooden accent walls, and a freestanding bathtub.

The gallery is four metres below ground level and features a Roman wall, which prevented further excavation. 

Instead, the studio worked with archaeologists to come up with a way to include the wall – following the discovery of a Roman workshop known as a bottega thought to date back to 2000 years ago, during the excavation process.

Ornate wooden archways, marble floors, and modern furnishings in an elegant interior.
Previously, ZHA added an S-shaped pier to the HafenCity district in Hamburg, a park in Beijing with a lifted structure that serves as a performance venue, a steeply pitched house in Monterrey, and slick interiors to a movie theater in south China.
Dramatic architectural patterns and modern interior design elements in a restaurant.
Striking wood-paneled interior with modern furniture and geometric lighting patterns.
Expansive wooden fitness facility with curved ceiling, modern equipment, and warm tones.
Striking interior design with curved glass walls, water features, and natural rock formations.

Photography by Chris Dalton
Visit Zaha Hadid Architects

- by Matt Watts

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