The restoration, renovation and interior design of The Pantheon Iconic Rome Hotel
bears the signature of Studio Marco Piva
Bringing modernity to the five-star hotel culture: new architecture comes to life in Rome combining history and creativity with auteur design. This was the goal of Studio Marco Piva when designing The Pantheon Iconic Rome Hotel, which has recently opened to the public following 11 months of works.
The new hotel is part of Unica Collection, which chose to collaborate with the “The Autograph Collection” brand – the Marriott group’s exclusive portfolio of upscale hotels – to put this facility on international circuits, after bringing the building back to its original function. In fact, initially it was the hotel Bologna in via Santa Chiara, before becoming seat of the Senate of the Republic offices.
The careful historical survey, the restoration and renovation of the old building, together with the accurate design of its interior, are the strategic elements needed to develop successful restructuring projects nowadays. Especially in complex locations like Rome’s historical centre.
The result is a hotel with contemporary features, linked to some traditional standards but not stuck in a cliché. Some symbolic architectural elements characterizing the surrounding monumental environment were reinterpreted. Shapes, surfaces and colours were chosen which, seen through that truly special Rome light, change during the day.
From a functional point of view, the location creates discontinuity with the area’s tourist frenzy: a calm, relaxing place to be discovered gradually from the ground floor up to its spectacular sixth floor terrace, offering guests a breath-taking view of Rome and its monuments.
Studio Marco Piva designed the intervention with the purpose of creating a contemporary product albeit complying with some traditional standards.
Rome like London and Paris: the project team’s target was to create a product that could be aligned with the top range projects being developed in the most important European cities from the point of view of tourism, offering an alternative to the classical standards of the Roman architecture.
Therefore, some strongly visual and emotional elements were chosen to reinterpret the historical building, which had deteriorated over time. The research focused on the shapes, colours and surfaces of the surrounding monuments and on how they change during the day because of the special Roman light.
The challenge was to uncover the original building, which had been reshaped over the years, clean it up and recover some original architectural elements, like the arches outlining the central corridor. Indeed, the arch became an important sign which Studio Marco Piva emphasized by creating it again in the main wall passages.
Studio Marco Piva exalted, in all aspects, the quality of the renovated building and its interior in relation to the unique external setting it overlooks.
Spaces – The Pantheon Iconic Rome Hotel comprises six floors plus a basement where the back-of-the-house part is located, and a roof terrace. The 79 sunny, spacious rooms are arranged in five floors and divided into 10 classic rooms, 22 superior rooms, 29 deluxe rooms and 18 suites. To enrich the hotel offer and improve guests’ accommodation experience, in addition to a standard mini bar in each room, a small cellar is provided offering refined champagne and a selection of wines of excellence.
Ground floor common areas – A perspective of bronze arches and white gypsum vaults, reflected in the glossy black, Sahara Noir stoneware floors, welcomes the guest when entering the hotel. Ceilings have visual, led-lit centres recalling the Pantheon Oculus. Reception and lobby desks are sculptural Calacatta-gold marble monoliths that seem to float in a shiny black lake.
Light is created by the architectural shapes, while some elegant design chandeliers become iconic/luminous items characterising the scenes of some common areas, such as the gourmet restaurant and the lounge bar.
Matter is paramount and creates perceptively surprising spaces, giving them a specific weight. Stone and marble recall the monumental nature of Rome, whereas bronze was chosen as a reference to the huge hinges on the Pantheon entrance door. A special led lighting system frames the entire ground floor area geometrically, recalling the compositional principles classic architecture is based on.
The rooms and the suites – The rooms, with their contemporary design, have soft, leather-covered panelling along all walls. Studio Marco Piva has developed an intense variation of colours, giving each of the five floors a specific identity, through different chromatic choices.
The idea was to create mini-apartments with the functionalities and services of a luxury hotel. From this point of view, The Pantheon – Iconic Rome Hotel aims to make guests feel as if they are living in an elegant, noble Roman palace, making the most not to look like an accommodating facility.
Two restaurants – On the ground floor, the Dionysus Gourmet Restaurant seating 28 people, and on the sixth floor the Divinity Restaurant, open for breakfast too, seating 60 (including 24 seats outside). On the other side of the building, still on the sixth floor, the Divinity Terrace Lounge Bar (50 seats, 30 outside), is a true added value for the hotel.
Divinity Terrace Lounge Bar: this space recalls the seven planetary gods the Pantheon is consecrated to, celebrated with dedicated cocktails. The materials replicate those used in the common areas: marble and metal pure shapes that enrich the environment, last stop before the panoramic terrace.
Contemporary Luxury
The contemporary luxury of the Pantheon appears in the well-being offered by its lounge, conversation and relax areas and a top-notch hospitality service. From a functional point of view, the location creates discontinuity with the area’s tourist frenzy: everything revolves around the idea of Rome offering its monuments and history in a contemporary, highly emotional way.
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