Center Hotels Miðgarður
Laugavegur 120
2015 – 1. Áfangi
2017 – 2. Áfangi

Byggingin að Laugavegi 120 hýsir 170 herbergja hótel með veitingastað, opinni móttöku, bar, fundarsölum og glæsilegri heilsulind. Gláma•Kím sá um hönnun deiliskipulags, endurgerð- og endurinnréttingu eldri hluta hússins, viðbyggingar, innra fyrirkomulags og innréttinga. Jafnramt var efnis- og litaval ásamt húsgagnavali gert af stofunni.

Eldri hluti hússins að Laugavegi 120 var byggð á árunum 1967-68 eftir teikningum Gunnars Hanssonar og Magnúsar Guðmundssonar fyrir Búnaðarbanka Íslands. Endugerð bankahússins lauk í júní 2015 og hófust þá framkvæmdir við viðbygginguna sem kláruðust að fullu í september 2017.
Veitingastaður er á jarðhæð með beinu aðgengi frá götu. Í tengslum við jarðhæð er inngarður, réttnefndur Miðgarður, með fallegri klöpp og heitum potti sem tengist bæði jarðhæð og heilsulind í kjallara. Eldhús, starfsmannaaðstaða og önnur stoðrými hótelsins eru á jarðhæð og í kjallara. Hótelherbergin eru öll á efri hæðum hússins og eru með glæsilegu útsýni yfir borgina.
Í eldri hlutanum fellur innra skipulag hótelsins að takti gamla hússins og reynt var að halda í það sem hægt var að nýta. Þar ber helst að nefna stigahús sem hefur marmaragólf og handrið úr tekki, stáli og plexigleri. Upprunalegar peningahvelfingar bankans fengu líka að halda sér og eru nú notaðar sem víngeymslur.

Hver hæð hótelsins hefur sitt litaþema sem endurspeglast í merkingum, litum á veggjum, húsgögnum og textíl. Nýbyggingin tekur mið af hæð og takti bygginganna í kring og ýmislegt úr eldri hlutanum var notað sem innblástur í nýja hlutann, t.a.m. stigahúsin. Byggingarnar tvær flæða saman í eina heild þó svo að nýbyggingin sé verðugur fulltrúi arkitektúrs frá árinu 2017. Allar innréttingar eru sérhannaðar og innanhúshönnunin hefur fallegt heildaryfirbragð. Verkefnið endurspeglar árangursríka og þverfaglega samvinnu arkitekta, hönnuða og verkfræðinga.

Samstarfsaðilar: Ferill: lagnir og burðavirki, Verkhönnun: rafmagn, Verkís: brunahönnun, Trivium: hljóðvistarhönnun, Landslag: landslag, Ármann Agnarsson grafískur hönnuður: grafík og merkingar.

Verkkaupi: Mannverk og Center Hotels

Ljósmyndir: © Nanne Springer

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Center Hotels Miðgarður
Laugavegur 120
2015 – 1. Phase
2017 – 2. Phase

Center Hotels Miðgarður is a 170 room hotel with full fledged restaurant, generous reception and lobby area, bar, meeting facilities and a unique spa on ground level. Gláma • Kím planned and coordinated the design phases from city planning approval for zoning and development, to the renovation and rehabilitation of the pre-existing office building to the development and design of the new addition. Also the hospitality concept development, subsequent interior design, contract fittings and the supervision of materials, color and texture, along with graphic design. In order to expedite the opening of the hotel operation, the first phase of the project was to retrofit of the bank and office wing, simultaneously designing the second phase. The hotel opened in September 2017.

The building is arranged around a central garden, Miðgarður. The original part, designed by Gunnar Hansson and Magnús Guðmundsson, architects, was built in 1968 as a branch for Búnaðarbankinn on ground level and offices on the floors above. The modern facade with it´s receded window behind trays of concrete balconies faces the Hlemmur square, a major thoroughfare at the top end of Laugavegur. The new addition sets up a contrast with a white monolithic block structure pierced with slightly disharmonious window openings.

All rooms have a unique view of the city, either towards the city center or above and beyond towards the ocean sound and Esjan beyond.

The Jörgensen restaurant, opens onto the busy Hlemmur as well as to the sheltered Miðgarður. During excavation for the foundations of the south wing of the hotel the bedrock was exposed and prepped as the major feature for the landscaping, both for the exterior restaurant veranda, as well as cascading towards the spa on the lower level connecting Miðgarður to the functions below grade. The hotel services and support spaces, kitchen, staff facilities, are placed above grade and in the basement.

During retrofitting and redesigning considerable care was taken to maintain the structural rhythm of the existing building, internally as well as externally. Material use and expression was transferred onto the newer parts, in some cases transformed and in other literally carried through in order to maintain a cohesion and continuity within the larger whole. The marble slab in the existing stairs, the teak railing, ironmongery and the zeitgeist use of plexiglass, all of which resurface throughout the complex. The original vault was retained as the hotel´s wine cellar.

The project was fast tracked and benefitted from a dynamic and seamless collaboration between the owner/contractor, hotel operator, various consultants and hospitality specialists and graphic designers.

Architects: Gláma•Kím
Consultants: Ferill, Verkhönnun, Verkís, Trivium, Landslag and Ármann Agnarsson.
Client: Mannverk and Center Hotels
Photographs: © Nanne Springer