Menis finalista a los Premios WAF de Singapur con un hotel en Suiza

He won two of those renowned prizes in 2010 and 2012. Architect Fernando Menis, once again a finalist at the World Architecture Festival Awards 2014 in Singapore due to a Hotel in Switzerland. The Bürchen Mystik Hotel Project (Switzerland) is what stands out this time within the Future Projects Leisure Led Development category. Menis is the only European architect in this category, where he will be competing with teams from Qatar, India, Thailand, Brazil, China and Turkey.   Architect Fernando Menis was once again announced as a finalist at the annual festival and international awards ceremony for the architecture industry, World Architecture Festival (WAF), well known for being the biggest worldwide event where highly qualified experts of the architectural sector submit their most innovative projects. In this case, Menis has been classified in the Future Projects Leisure Led Development category thanks to a Hotel Complex project based in the city of Bürchen, which is located in the Canton of Valais, right in the middle of the Swiss Alps. He had previously defeated Diller & Scofidio + Renfro, an interdisciplinary design studio based in New York, and COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, a cooperative architectural design firm located in Austria, in a competition organized by the Swiss city in order to retrofit an ski resort characterized for being a tourist attraction in winter and turn it into a natural value lodging that can also welcome visitors during summer. This new infrastructure designed by Fernando Menis is composed of a hotel that resembles a forest as it fits perfectly in the landscape that surrounds it (an inhabited forest), a marketplace built among the old barns from the area, a Water and Meditation Temple intended to work as a place where visitors can relax, as well as a lake and a public square that connects both main areas of Bürchen. During the following months, Menis will present his project live before several highly regarded judges, every single one of which will held the decision to proclaim the winning project among the World Building and Future Project of the Year categories this October in Singapore. This is not the first time the Canarian architect has been included among the competition finalists, since he obtained two WAF awards back in 2010 and 2012. As of the first time, his architecture studio, based both in the Canary Islands and Madrid, took over the first place in the Future Cultural Projects category thanks to the Multifunctional Concert Hall “Jordanki” in Torun, Poland. It was the Plaza of Spain in Adeje, however, the one that turned out to be the winner of the fifth edition of the WAF Awards in 2012, participating in the New and Old category, and also the project that made him obtain the Festival Director Award that same year. An inhabited forest. The Bürchen Mystik Hotel provides a special and unique landscape, something that symbolizes Fernando Menis’ work. It draws attention up to a refurbished meadow with a gentle gradient facing The Bietschhorn, which displays through a green scenery in Summer and a snow white one during Winter. When it came to design this hotel complex, the team called up for the opinions of the public authorities and citizens of Bürchen in order to respect Switzerland’s strong democratic tradition, which later allowed creating new leisure areas that will eventually increase the chance of a tourist income while still respecting the city background. This way, although the hotel is one of a private investment, it can still be considered a ‘public’ building due to the main wish of the Town Council being to change the future of the city and be in perfect harmony with nature at the same time.   The hotel suggests the creation of magical rooms, perfect for everyone who wants to look at the stars, as well as spaces dedicated to reflexion and meditation, something that conceives it as a secular pilgrimage place where people can find themselves, hence the competition’s name – Bürchen Mystik. In addition, old barns from the area are being used not only as a tourist attraction, but also as little villas where visitors can “feel the story” of Bürchen, while still being part of the local heritage. True to the harmonization between his projects and the natural environment, Fernando Menis uses several materials such as wood, highly present in the area and one of a great economic importance for the Swiss region, as well as white concrete and crystal habits in order to reflect the sunlight and imitate snow, as well as providing squares that work as meeting points, bringing the natural world and urban areas together. That way, everything belongs to the whole community and can be used anytime in many different ways, thanks to a wide range of cultural, festive and sport practices.   The World Architecture Festival (WAF). The WAF has become the biggest worldwide event where highly qualified experts of the architectural sector submit their most innovative projects. The WAF movement gives East areas the opportunity to get to know West areas better, thus offering inspiration, excellence and global development through never before seen projects. In summary, and according to its official website, it is the “architectural excellence, live”: www.worldarchitecturefestival.com