Foster + Partners Unveil 5 Star Hotel for Heathrow

Recently approved by the Mayor of London, a new design-forward, energy-efficient 5-star hotel will be built very close to the Heathrow Airport. It will be the only one of its kind in the area. Foster + Partners, designers of projects like the Bowery Art Gallery, Twin Paris Skyscrapers and even an elephant house, is in charge of the design while Riva Properties will develop the hotel. If you’re a frequent flier to the UK, you’ll be pleased to know that the Bath Road property will have all the amenities you could ask for—sustainability, energy efficiency, meeting facilities and restaurants, a gym, pool and spa, even a bowling alley.

The exterior of the new hotel will be covered in layers of glass, just one small part of the highly energy-efficient strategies characteristic of Foster+Partners designs. In addition to flooding the interior with daylight, the glass shell will act as a noise barrier from planes taking off and landing. While the hotel is actually 13 stories high, many of the floors are sunk below ground level, which gives the building a lower profile similar to the surrounding structures. Hotel rooms are contained into six different pavilions connected by bridges and enveloped by the glass shell.

From the entrance lobby, guests can look through the glass deck to view the pool, restaurant and waterfall below. The conference center, which has a separate street entrance, is lit from an atrium on the roof of the building that brings light down to the lower levels.

The new 5-star hotel is meant to help spur the redevelopment of the area surrounding Heathrow Airport. According to Grant Brooker, Executive Director of Foster + Partners, “This will be the first five-star hotel in the immediate vicinity of Heathrow, and marks a key stage in the area’s transformation. We have enjoyed great support and encouragement from local residents, businesses and the Borough of Hillingdon and we believe that the hotel’s wide range of facilities will ensure that it plays a vital role in serving both international travelers and the local community.
+ Foster + Partners


by Bridgette Steffen
April 22, 2009