Hotel Omm
The hotel where you can tune in to what’s on in the city
Imaginatively enhanced comfort
FacilitiesFood
Moo RestaurantMoo Vida Restaurant
Drinks and musicMoodern BarMon Key Club
HealthSpaciomm
RoomsPrivacy: see without being seen
PoolMeeting roomsIndoor gardenCar park
Intelligently integrated innovation
Light and space
Services
Accommodation
Awards
People
Basic information
Tragaluz Group
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The hotel tuned in to what’s on in the city.
The Hotel Omm, opened in December 2003, has become a meeting point for Barcelona residents and visitors who want to tune in to what’s on in the city. One of the reasons for this is the hotel’s excellent location, very close to the Casa Quadras and the Pedrera building, near Passeig de Gràcia and Plaça de Joan Carles I, in the central Eixample district. Guests are also impressed by the high quality of service, attention to detail and unusual and original design of the premises, which offer genuine contemporary luxury in a cosmopolitan setting. Created by the Tragaluz Group, the Hotel Omm has given Barcelona a new hotel-restaurant concept in spacious, warm and luxurious surroundings.
The structure and design of the hotel are aimed at making it easy for guests to live the city and get to know its citizens at an easy, stress-free pace. At any time of day, at the bar or on one of the comfortable sofas, there is a varied mix of people enjoying a pleasant moment. They may be guests who have chosen the Hotel Omm for its originality, for the design of its facilities or the quality of its service. Others may be local residents bringing in a breath of Barcelona as they take a break from work, come to have lunch or a drink.
In among the letters of the hotel’s logo, designed by Mario Eskenazi, a uniquely designed space awaits, quite unlike that of a typical hotel lobby, with the Reception desk discretely tucked away on the right. The entrance from the street through a revolving door leads to a huge hall crossed by a gallery which reaches the tables at the far end, bringing the vibrancy of the city right into the building. All the furniture is low-level in order not to obstruct visibility. There are no ostentatious shops blocking contact with the outside, nor staircases or counters to put off casual visitors. Barcelona comes right into the Hotel Omm. With its recent extension to nos. 104, 106 and 108 of Passeig de Gràcia, the hotel now includes three commercial premises: Corium own-design
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accessories; Jofre, offering a selection of the best international fashion labels, and the Italian jeweller Pomellato.
Imaginatively enhanced comfort
The Hotel Omm is built using materials and shapes traditionally found in the Eixample district: stone facades, balconies onto the street, an inside courtyard. All these features have been resolved by the interior designers, Sandra Tarruella and Isabel López, with the most advanced architectural techniques, which together with the creative treatment of functionality and aesthetics enhance both the appearance of the hotel and the wellbeing of its guests. Each area of the hotel has benefited by becoming multifunctional.
Facilities
Food
Moo Restaurant
Working with the Roca brothers (Celler de Can Roca restaurant) as consultants and under chef Felip Llufriu, the Moo Restaurant offers a very particular version of Catalan cuisine which plays deliciously sophisticated games with gourmet recipes and carefully selected designer wines. Customised menus can be made up of half-portions, or there is the option of choosing one of the ‘sampling’ menus. The gourmet cuisine and great wine list, backed up by everything else Barcelona has to offer, make this unique place a must for all those who value the highest quality applied to all five senses.
The Moo Restaurant, like the hotel, is a new concept which breaks with the traditional image of the gourmet restaurant as formal and pretentious. This is
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something quite different, a functional open space with a relaxed atmosphere and cosmopolitan clientele attracted by the unexpectedly high quality of the cuisine. The kitchen is fully equipped and staffed by a team of 18 under chef Felip Llufriu. Design is a defining characteristic of the Hotel Omm, including not only the comfortable and elegant furniture but also the staff uniforms, attractive, practical and easy to wear, created by Catalan designer Josep Abril.
A few months after it opened, the Moo Restaurant won the 2004 Sánchez Cotán Award for Best Wine List, given by the Spanish Gastronomic Academy, and the 2004 Fooding Award for Meilleur sucre-fêlé, given by the French food critics’ organisation for most original ideas. More recently, the Moo Restaurant won a star in the 2006 edition of the Michelin Guide and two Campsa Suns in the Repsol Guide in 2008.
Moo Vida Restaurant
Located in the hotel lobby, Moo Vida is a live space where hotel guests and Barcelona residents can meet for breakfast, an aperitif, a light lunch or supper, offering healthy food creatively prepared: snacks on toast, rice, pasta, steak tartar, couscous, stir-fried vegetables... interesting combinations of tastes and textures that are good for the body and a pleasure to eat.
Music and drinks
Moodern Bar
The hall of the hotel, which during the day is a quiet meeting place for having breakfast, coffee or lunch, turns into the Moodern bar in the evenings. In the Moodern, hotel guests and Barcelona residents can have one of the bar’s
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special cocktails as a pre-dinner aperitif, or enjoy seeing and being seen after dinner while deciding where to move on to.
Mon Key Club
The basement of the Hotel Omm houses a multifunctional space like a perfectly suspended sound-proofed box, in which all sorts of events can be held. Mon Key Club, the hotel’s live-music night club has a fully-equipped stage, screens and spectacular lighting technology. In keeping with the spirit of the Hotel Omm, Mon Key Club is open to the city, from Thursday to Saturday, from 11.30 p.m. till 03.30 a.m. Mon Key Club schedules a very diverse programme of live performances which have put the club high on the Barcelona scene listings.
Health
Spaciomm
Opened in January 2006, the 400m2 spa Spaciomm has direct access from Hotel Omm through the shopping gallery, and street entrance from number 106 of Passeig de Gràcia. Designed by Sandra Tarruella and Isabel López, the interior architecture reflects the intimate spirit of the treatments and services that the spa offers. The two interior designers have created pure lines and an oriental atmosphere using natural materials such as wood, stone, iron, coconut matting, linen and silk, with soft lighting, aromas and low music which combine to create a quiet peaceful ambiance in which to enjoy all the therapies offered to care for feelings and senses.
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Rosa María Esteva is working with a team of therapists whose qualifications and experience mean that they can work on customised treatments with each client, tailored to her/his emotional and physical condition. The therapists work on three main areas of improvement: energetic, physical and emotional, using the five basic elements: earth, water, air, fire and metal, and the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, trying to rebalance, revitalise, relax, rejuvenate and enhance.
After an initial analysis of the client’s physical and emotional state, bearing in mind her/his normal everyday activities, the specialist will customise the treatment preparing the necessary substances and ambiances for the optimum response: light, sound, temperature, aroma, rhythm, intensity, colour and texture.
The many treatments offered include a Tibetan facial treatment for headaches; shiatsu or reflexology for menstrual discomfort; ayurvedic massage and application of products native to various different countries to relieve depression;, revitalising treatment with essence of mint; draining massage to reduce stress, tension and inflammation; stretching therapies to make the body more flexible; manual drainage therapy for pregnancy or jet lag; and of course an integrated exclusively-designed customised treatment put together by the therapist to provide all the effects required.
As well as treatment cubicles, Spaciomm complements the wellbeing experience with peaceful relaxation areas, and also has one of the best hairdressing salons in Barcelona, with an expert team of stylists and beauticians offering hairdressing, make-up, manicures and pedicures.
The gym is staffed by specialists in Pilates, a rapid and effective way of improving muscle tone and flexibility of the whole body, using various different techniques: ballet, Swedish gym and yoga. Equipment such as passive gym machines, static bikes and running tracks are available for individual use.
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Rooms
The Hotel Omm has now completed its second extension by expanding to include numbers 104, 106 and 108 of Passeig de Gràcia, an example of Barcelona’s rationalist architecture which has been totally refurbished for its new use. The hotel now has 32 new suites added to the original 59 rooms distributed on 6 floors. The conversion faced the challenge presented by the layout of what had been private homes, which has meant that each of the new suites is a different space with its own unique design.
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Privacy: seeing without being seen
The joint work of Sandra Tarruella and Isabel López achieves perfect harmony in the bedrooms. Typically, hotel bedrooms are entered through a short passage flanked by a wardrobe and a bathroom. In the 59 original rooms of the Hotel Omm, which look out over Rosselló Street, the guests go straight through the door into a wide open space bathed in natural light. The bedroom and bathroom are separated by a wardrobe which doesn’t quite reach the ceiling, thus creating continuity between the two areas, while the lavatory and bidet are discreetly tucked away inside.
The 32 new suites are more irregularly distributed and are all different. The size/space relationship between bedroom and bathroom is different in each case but always avoids closed spaces cut off from the rest of the suite. The furniture, similarly, varies from room to room with specially chosen pieces such as four-poster beds, to enhance comfort and exclusivity.
The communicating corridors have been treated in much the same way, apart from the lighting, which is designed to make the most of their non-lineal configuration. The dividing lines between the two parts of the hotel are marked by backlit entrances and exits. Despite the different spatial configurations, use of textures and furniture, both parts of the hotel are complementary and inspired by the same aesthetic criteria.
The layout in both the original 59 rooms and the 32 new suites is simple and practical. The electrical wiring is chased into the bed-head, so that walls and ceilings are uncluttered, increasing the feeling of spaciousness. The wardrobe which separates the bedroom from the bathroom is made of lacquered aluminium, and apart from shelves and clothes hangers, contains luggage storage space, a TV and a minibar. Each room has a music system and an Internet connection designed to provide the most pleasant environment in terms of lighting and atmosphere.
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Pool
On the roof of the building is a terrace overlooking the city, floored with ipe wood and with a pergola linking the different areas. There is an elongated swimming pool with seating which offers an unexpected surprise: a view of Gaudí’s La Pedrera, with its chimneys and skylights. The pool is open all day and offers bar service during the summer months.
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Meeting rooms
The Hotel Omm has two meeting rooms which can accommodate from 4 to 25 persons. The rooms have air conditioning and facilities for video-conferences, audiovisual presentations and computer connections.
Indoor garden
The indoor garden of the Hotel Omm forms a 1.500 m2 organic blanket. Different types of lettuces, tomatoes, pumpkins, ornamental plants and aromatic herbs, are some of the vegetables that Felip Llufriu serve in the Moo Restaurant. The garden is decorated with masts hung with prayer wheels similar to those found at the entrance to Buddhist monasteries, and a large painting by the artist Carla Tarruella.
Car-park
The car-park is situated on the 3 lowest levels, with 99 spaces available for hotel guests and other visitors. Stairs and lifts give direct access to the hotel.
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Intelligently integrated innovation
The Hotel Omm is an example of all the characteristics that have made Barcelona a city renowned worldwide for its style, as a centre for architecture and design, open to innovation while respecting tradition. The hotel was created by Juli Capella, a young architect trained in the best Barcelona tradition, and the interior designers Sandra Tarruella and Isabel López, responsible for the design of all the restaurants of the Tragaluz Group, who have found in the Group’s owner Rosa María Esteva a very remarkable colleague who contributes her own personal ideas to every aspect of her work. The hotel is full of original and creative details which make all its features very distinctive.
The project makes the best possible use of the available space, with large well-lit rooms, and using the interior patio to create a multifunctional room. The hotel faces the city with a spectacular façade presented as a work of art and made of a sheet of Cabra marble, a high-quality limestone.
A series of apparently arbitrarily-placed waves and openings have been worked into this sheet, living an impression of dynamic movement and variety. The blocks of stone stand out from the wall in relief, like waves, petals or curtains, forming angled balconies through which the midday sunlight streams from Rosselló Street into the bedrooms. The façade inclines towards the natural axis of activity –Passeig de Gràcia– with its back to Pau Claris, down which the traffic streams into the heart of the old city. The stone curtains afford privacy and cut down traffic noise in the rooms.
Although the waves on the façade are not merely an aesthetic conceit – their function is to afford a good view, natural light, privacy and noise reduction - it’s impossible not to relate the Hotel Omm to two unique and neighbouring buildings, stars in Barcelona’s decorative arts firmament: Antoni Gaudí’s ‘Casa
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Milà’, in Provença Street, or Salvador Valeri’s ‘Comalat’, the famous “house with the ball”, on the other side of Diagonal Avenue.
Light and Space
The façade of Hotel Omm finishes in a black base, which opens up into huge windows which bathe the ground floor in natural light. Automatic revolving doors lead into the hotel and restaurant. The hotel entrance is flanked by large spheres, big floating “O’s” and luminous “M’s” suggesting an ironic reading of the hotel’s name.
The hotel reception, an elongated space 5 metres high and painted bright red, looks out on to Rosselló Street through the glass wall all round the ground floor. The sculpture placed at one end, “The Garden of Memory”, - not the only work of art on display in the hotel - was specially made for the Hotel Omm by Alfonso Alzamora, using seven steel cubes to create a cypress, the tree of hospitality. The shadow projected onto the wall makes a subtle interplay of references between material and shape.
Inside the Hotel Omm there are no columns or pillars inside the large brightly-lit main room, which is separated into different areas by perpendicular partitions. The space on the left is furnished with sofas and rugs in a mosaic of soft, warm, elegant colours: grey, violet, green and brown, contrasted with black leather poufs and tables, luminous cubes and lamps. Further on, an oblique wall closes off two spaces around a natural gas fireplace. The flames appear to float on a base of white stones, creating a marvellous impression of simplicity and comfort.
The two bars, made of black leather and iro metal, a light and self-welding material, fit together to form a rectangle, leaving on view the minimum amount of equipment necessary for running the bar. Between the bar the restaurant
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stands a large iron table with stools, modelled on the old Mordisco table; an open space in which to enjoy the delights of the Moo Vida menu.
The Moo Restaurant enjoys natural daylight from a courtyard in which some stainless steel shapes randomly reflect the light onto walls and tables.
The courtyard seems as though captive within a freestanding glass showcase, with no frame, stand or weight, from which appears a striking forest of bamboo canes. The plank mould marks have been left on the walls to contrast with the delicacy of the interior design and as a reminder of the magnitude of the construction work required to complete the building.
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There are nine pyramid-shaped skylights in the ceiling of the restaurant which let in the daylight from the courtyard. As the sun gets lower an electronic system makes up for the loss of natural light. At night, the function of the skylights is replaced by surround lighting and the soft glow of lamps placed around the room.
The Moo is separated from the bar by the staircase leading down to the basement and the nightclub Mon Key Club. Between the restaurant and the stairwell there is a floating metallic mesh which protects the privacy of the dining area without breaking the continuity of the space. The sense of intimacy is enhanced by the placement and the size of the tables, never for more than 12 persons.
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Services
Car park (additional charge) Limousine hire (additional charge) 24/7 front desk service 24/7 room service Laundry and dry cleaning Wake-up calls Minibar in all rooms Shoe cleaning Shopping mall Fire protection (smoke detectors in rooms and public areas)
Accommodation
58 double rooms, 16 superior rooms, 9 junior suites, 4 suites and 4 suites with separate living rooms.
Facilities for guests with disabilities. All rooms with bathtubs. Superior rooms and suites also have separate shower cubicle. All rooms have air conditioning and central heating. Satellite TV. Music system and CD player. Direct phone line with voicemail. Safe. Desk. Analogue IT connections in all rooms. Welcome-pack toiletries and hair dryer.
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Awards
Two Suns in the Repsol Guide 2008Moo Restaurant
European Property AwardsBest Hotel Spain 2009
Restaurant MagazineMoo Restaurant – 4th Best Spanish Restaurant 2008
2nd Best World Sommelier 2008Roger Viusà, first sommelier Moo Restaurant
Tatler Travel Guide 2008Best Foodie Hotel
Best European Sommelier 2008Roger Viusà, first sommelier Moo Restaurant
Geosaison 2007-Die Besten Hotels in EuropaEn la categoría de hotels de diseño
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2006 Condé Nast Johansens Awards Best European hotel for design and innovation
2006 Michelin GuideMoo Restaurant Moo – One star
2005 Travel & Leisure Awards 2005Best 2005 designer hotel
2004 Sánchez Cotán AwardBest wine list – Spanish Academy of Gastronomy
Fooding 2004Moo Restaurant – Meilleur sucre-fêlé
Premi FAD d’interiorisme de l’opinió 2004
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People
Sandra Tarruella – Isabel López
They have been working together since 1993. Some of their major projects have been the Café Schilling and Berlin in Barcelona, the Aiolí Restaurant in Vienna, and the restaurants Tragaluz Group restaurants El Japonés, Negro, Bestial and the Hotel Omm.
Accounts of their work have appeared in professional publications and they have given public lectures on design, as well as teaching at the Escuela Bau and the Escola Eina in Barcelona.
They have several times been finalists in the FAD Architecture and Interior Design Awards in Barcelona, and in the Saloni Awards. In 2004 they won the FAD Opinion Award for the Hotel Omm and for the restaurant El Japonés in 2000, the Saloni award in 2001 and the 1986 Silver Delta ADI-FAD Award.
They were members of the jury for the 1999 FAD awards and the 2000 Habitácola prizes.
Felip Llufriu
After training at the Ciutadella Catering School in Menorca, Llufriu started his career at the Celler de Can Roca de Girona, and went through various chef’s cuisines: Neichel and Jean Luc Figueras in Barcelona, Mugaritz in Guipúzcoa and Las Rejas in Cuenca.
At the moment, and since it opened in December 2003, he is chef of the Moo Restaurant at the Hotel Omm in Barcelona.
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Roger Viusà
He trained as a sommelier at the Celler de Can Roca, although he had previously acquired experience at other restaurants such as the Hotel Empordà.
Since January 2005 he has been chief sommelier at Moo Restaurant, in charge of purchasing, managing stocks and staff. Roger Viusà has been chosen to represent Catalonia in the Spanish final of the 2006 edition of the Best Sommelier Award.
Best Spanish Sommelier in 2007, Best European Sommelier in the Europe Final in January 2008 and second Best World Sommelier in the World Final Rome May 2008.
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Basic information
Hotel Omm Rosselló 265, 08008 BarcelonaT +34 93 454 000F +34 93 454 004www.hotelomm.esGPS co-ordinates: Longitude E 02º09’39” – Latitude N 41º23’46”
Promoter Tragaluz Groupwww.grupotragaluz.com
Architect Juli CapellaCapella Arquitectura & Design
Interior Design Sandra Tarruella e Isabel LópezSandra Tarruella & Isabel López Interioristas
Graphic Design Mario Eskenazi
Clothing Josep Abril
Landscape gardener Beth Figueras
Press information:
Clementina Milá (Hotel Omm), T. 93 [email protected]
Tragaluz Group20
The Hotel Omm project is the fruit of the experience of the Tragaluz Group, headed by the Barcelona businesswoman Rosa María Esteva, which has introduced a new catering concept with its restaurants Tragaluz, Tragamar, Tragarrapid, Agua, AContraluz, Negro, El Japonés, El Principal y Bestial, Negro-Rojo, Cuines de Santa Caterina, Bar Lobo, La Xina. The concept is based on balancing high quality, innovative cuisine with affordable prices, in a carefully studied ambiance in which shapes, colours and lighting work together to create a feeling of peace and wellbeing. The formula seeks to combine quality and comfort, imagination and play, nature, surprise and empathy, all characteristics of present-day life. The Group has most recently opened the Komomoto, which is a Nikkei tavern on the Princesa Street in Barcelona, and Bar Tomate, the first restaurant of the group located in Madrid.
Entre las últimas aperturas del Grupo en el 2009 se encuentran, Komomoto, una taberna peruano-japonesa en la calle Princesa de Barcelona y Bar Tomate, el primer restaurante del grupo en Madrid.
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