Atlantis by Giardino to open in 2015
Giardino Hotel Group has announced plans to open Atlantis by Giardino, an iconic landmark that has long played a central role in Zurich life.
Styled as an urban retreat, the 95 key hotel will provide an alternative to the city’s current hotel offering. Situated in the western part of Zurich, Atlantis by Giardino reflects the city’s close relationship with nature; it sits on the edge of a forest at the foot of the Üetliberg mountains, and is just a 15-minute drive from the city’s famous Bahnhofstrasse.
A Y-shaped building with three wings, the hotel is set in its own extensive grounds, and will have a 25-metre heated outdoor pool, an indoor pool, a spa, two restaurants and two bars, and flexible public space for meetings and events. The conference facilities will easily accommodate as few as eight for a board meeting and as many as 200 for a cocktail event.
The interiors employ handmade furnishings and fabrics to play on the contradiction between city and countryside, while paying homage to the architecture of the building and its interesting past – the hotel is steeped in celebrity history, having been visited by Steve McQueen, Freddie Mercury and Muhammad Ali.
This archetypal piece of modernist architecture was a hotel from its construction in 1970 until October 2004, when it became a popular artistic venue for Zurich’s artistic community. It was bought by its existing owners in 2012, who appointed London-based hospitality firm HBA to oversee its extensive refurbishment programme.
