2.7 The typologies of hotels with social and architectural design impact

2.7 The typologies of hotels with social and architectural design impact

Socialist countries of Eastern Europe, after the World War II, along with the emergent need for the country reconstruction, considered an important component the social issues which stimulated these countries to develop large-scale seaside infrastructure, to accommodate the citizens need for vacations.

Since 1945, the typologies of tourism facilities in terms of accommodation were presented to the world in abundance, through the International Style. One of the first significant type was the “High-Rise Tower” Hotel which was a concept transposed from the urban context to the beachfront, initiated with the Hilton International, the Caribe Hilton (1946-1949) in Puerto Rico. This type was followed by the “Slender Tower “Typology applied in Pitsuda Trade Union Holiday Houses (1962-1967) and “Massive Slabs” in Inturist Hotel Yalta (1977).

Horizontal compositions with blocks during the modernism, were later on configured in specific shapes like the “Y” shaped which consisted on a ground plan distribution with three arms straddling the landscape. This typology is presented quite outstandingly in the Hotel de Garbe in Armacao de Pera, Portugal (1959-1964).

“Terraced hotel” Type were presented by the architects as a solution in the difficult steep terrain by generally embedding the horizontal units in the topography like in hotel do Mar in Sesimbra Portugal (1960-1963). In France, we can find examples of densely built “Village Complex” in the Village du Merlier Holiday Resort (1959-1969) representing a complex concrete cubes structure on a cliff face near Saint Tropez. While the concept of Resort is revealed beautifully in the project of Six Resort Towns, Jan Baladur’s La Grande Motte, a combination of truncated pyramid structures, where for the first time in a typological mixed with apartments and villas for sale as well as hotels and camping site could accommodate for the first time 100.000 guests.

These Resorts beside the freedom of expression in architecture were conceived in such way (which still applies also for today) that control both the leisure and, in the meantime, achieve indoctrination with hegemonic ideology (Beyer, Hagemann, & Zinganel, 2013)12.

In 1983 was the year when the hotel real estate market came to life by achieving the constructions company’s and real estate’s interest in building and buying hotels, an interest which is still growing worldwide.

The invention of the internet, is the one of the last contributors in the enhancement of the tourism development by affecting also the Hotels evolution. Choosing the place, the accommodation and the mean of transportation in the commodity of home by computer, mobile or tablet, has contributed to the globalization of the tourism as an industry but also as a social concept.

The Hotels of today, have to compete in this worldwide market, online or elsewhere not just by offering the commodities needed but also offering a unique experience for the visitor by balancing the profit with the sustainability and the growing curve. Today, the travelers have the opportunity to choose between 17.5 million guest rooms all around the globe, where are offered the variations of affordable accommodation, luxury, till technological or innovation implemented in their chosen accommodation.

12 Beyer, E., Hagemann A. (2013). Holidays after the fall. Seaside Architecture and Urbanism in Bulgaria and Croatia, ISBN 978-3868592269

Figure 13: Modernist Hotels worldwide: Sources: carobehilton.com; booking.com; jet2holidays.com; tripadvisor.com; culture.gouv.fr; skyrisecities

Figure 14: International Typologies of Beachfront Tourism Architecture in the XX-th century

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