Hospitality Design - August 2013 - 45

perspectives

sketchbook

aparthotel arai
> At once charming and seedy, Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter is
enchanting, a magnet for tourists in search of history by day and a party
mecca for revelers by night. Yet it is here, and not in the posh Eixample
neighborhood, that three luxury boutique hotels have recently opened:
Hotel DO, Hotel Mercer, and now the 4-Star Aparthotel Arai by the
Derby Hotels Collection.
Behind Arai’s 18th-century sgraffito façade are 31 apart-rooms
equipped with cozy lounges and kitchenettes and fitted with exposed
stonewalls and original materials—
such as ceiling beams—found within
the palace during the five-year
renovation process. “We repurposed all
the original woodwork, transforming
it into furniture like bedside tables,
TV stands, cabinets, and headboards.
Likewise, the parquet floor was crafted
from antique wood,” explains Derby
Hotels Collection president Jordi Clos.
In fact, Clos has a passion for
history, and, when possible, strove to
maintain historical details, such as the

white marble staircase and restored fresco
from 1770 depicting a former owner’s coat of
arms. In addition, he incorporated a museum
of palace artifacts on the basement floor,
which also serves as a meeting room.

watermark bar
> Watermark Bar at Pier 15 means more
for New York than just another restaurant.
It’s part of the NYC Economic Development
Corporation’s East River Waterfront project,
which is aiming to create a continuous
greenway running from Harlem to Battery
Park. “The transformation is significant,
and there are not many places in New York
doing this,” says Abraham Merchant, owner
of Merchants Hospitality and co-owner of
Watermark Bar with Telly Hatzigeorgiou,
owner of the Lure Group. “South Street
Seaport is an up-and-coming location, and
Pier 15 is a one-of-a-kind double-deck pier
offering comfortable seating, a grass area, and
an overall peaceful setting.”
Adds Gregg Pasquarelli, founding principal
of New York-based SHoP Architects, who is
renovating the pier: “Pier 15 is a unique part
of the project in that the city held the rebuild
permit for the pier, allowing for us to build it
from the ground up—which is rare.” Taking
its cue from the city’s tradition of two-story
recreation piers of the late 19th and 20th
centuries, it maximizes public real estate on a

limited footprint by elevating open recreation
space to a second-level deck and by nestling
space for ship docking, café, and maritime
education spaces, and stepped ‘lookouts’ below.”
Under this industrial structure, made
of glass and steel and a red slatted canopy,
local architect Wid Chapman crafted the
3,500-square-foot indoor/outdoor Watermark
Bar. “In many ways this is a park structure—
part of the public domain—which is somewhat
unique for a restaurant or bar,” he says.
Inheriting epoxy gray concrete floor, he
imbued the space with materials that were
“durable and not too precious”: black glazed
handmade tiles, a reclaimed wood feature wall
and bartop, blackened metal framed back bar
cabinets, wood tables and benches, and cherry
red barstools.
“We wanted a very comfortable, engaging,
and inviting atmosphere, with a moderate
price point,” says Merchant, adding that they
had to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. “The
waterfront view is premium and speaks for
itself, so we wanted to keep the décor elements
understated.”

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