Hotel Maria Cristina

Hotel Maria Cristina lies amid the Balearic Sea, a palm-lined promenade, and the Templar-era Peñíscola castle. The hotel was recently renovated by architect Melchor Senent of the Arquiberica practice and the result is a building that, precisely because of the designers’ restyling choices, both integrates with the surrounding architecture and allows the landscape to “come into” the complex.

The original structure was built in the 1970s, so the new work was quite extensive both internally and externally, with only the internal supporting structure left untouched. The original lines were overhauled to create a far more contemporary look that is technologically advanced and highly efficient. Achieving this required working closely with Trespa^®, a company that specializes in the production of high-pressure laminates and that, for this project, provided a range of panel types for the external cladding. The cooperative relationship between the architects and Trespa^® started soon after the building site opened and it was fundamental in optimizing the product solutions adopted and so ensuring the cost and design parameters were complied with.

The specific choice in this case was for Trespa^® Meteon^®, a compact decorative laminate for ventilated façades produced under high pressure and at a high temperature. The mixture, consisting of 70% natural fibers and 30% thermosetting resins, is ideal for making exceptionally dense, stable panels with an excellent weight-resistance ratio. More specifically, the large panels chosen for this project are from two collections: Unicolors (with a rich color palette) and Wood Decors (with a timeless wooden effect). In the former case, A05.0.0 Pure White with the Satin finish was chosen; in the latter case, NW02 Elegant Oak, with the Matt finish, as this creates a matt effect regardless of the angle from which the surface is viewed. To fix the panels, the TS200 invisible mechanical fastening system was selected.

The rooms, 51 in total including two suites, were renovated adding large windows so as to make natural light a key interior element. The terrace parapets were also made of glass, removing potential barriers between the hotel’s rooms and the surrounding landscape.

Using Trespa^® Meteon^® also improved the hotel’s “Hotel Scoring”, which is a universal, objective system for categorizing hotels that offers an independent and complementary score compared to the star system.

The work done not only improved the building’s sustainability and energy efficiency, but has also improved the quality of any stay at the hotel through better thermal and acoustic comfort.