Hotel Santos Porta Fira de L’Hospitalet, designed by architect Toyo Ito and b720 Arquitectos, led by Fermín Vázquez, and built by FCC, was officially opened on 22 June. The hotel has required a total investment of over 90 million euro and created more than 150 jobs, as explained by José Luis Santos, president of the hotel chain.

This designer hotel, with a total floor area of 34,000 square metres, 26 above-ground floors, a ground floor and two basements, has 320 rooms. Shaped like a lotus blossom whose contour changes depending on the viewer’s standpoint, the building is a striking sight clothed in a latticework of bright red aluminium pipes. Because of the relationship between ball-and-socket joints, aluminium pipes and structure, the design clings to the entire façade in a smooth, orderly way, expressing rotation, translation and growth as it rises in height.

The overall Torres Porta Fira project is a complex with 80,107.67 square metres of floor area, comprising two 117-metre-tall towers, one for the hotel and the other for use as an office building. The complex is strategically situated between two major developments, Europa and the Fira 2000 project. The towers have become the gateway to the city from El Prat Airport.