by Anna Szybowski
Zaha Hadid designed the first floor as a fluid 3D landscape with no hard edges. Within the rooms, the furniture, including the bed, desk, armchair and wardrobe, appears to extend out of the fluid interior, either white or black in color. The bathtub and the wash basin are extensions of the walls and ceiling in the bathroom.
The fluidity of the interior is constructed with a thermoformable material called LG HI MACS. This synthetic material is two-thirds mineral (aluminium-trihydrate in this project) and one-third acrylic resin. Thus, its main properties include fire-resistance, scratch- and impact- resistance, as well as ease of cleaning. Typically, LG HI MACS is used in applications such as kitchen counters.
The fabrication of the fluid forms was executed by Rosskopf & Partner, a German firm that specializes in working with mineral-based materials. A digital 3D model, supplied by the architects was divided into segments. CNC machines then milled the 3D data into a set of moulds. The mould parts were made out of medium-density fiber (MDF), which is a wood fiber and resin board. Pre-cut sections of LG HI MACS were then thermoformed onto the mould parts. To achieve tighter radii and larger curved sections, the fabricators used higher thermoforming temperatures and a longer forming period. The molded sections shipped to the site, where they were glued and sanded to make the joints invisible and the surface appear continuous.
In total, each room with a bathroom contains approximately 250 molded sections. There are 4 types of rooms and 2 unique suites, all of which are painted black or white. Irrespective of variation, the spaces appear created out of continuous frozen fluid that has englufed the space.
References:
“Floor of a Hotel in Madrid.” Detail 2006 No. 4. P. 378-379 (English Ed.)
Funck, Martin. “Moulded Room Shells for a Hotel Floor by Zaha Hadid” Detail 2006. No. 4. P. 428 (English Ed.)