The Madrid EDITION will preview this month, marking the city’s first luxury lifestyle urban resort. The arrival of the EDITION brand further boosts the Spanish capital’s attraction with a refined offering that encapsulates the city’s beguiling individuality and essence.
The property embraces Ian Schrager’s vision and ethos for an understated elegance while showcasing the innovative and elevated experience, ethos and exceptional luxury service that the EDITION brand is known for. It will offer two restaurants, each helmed by a world-class, award-winning chef, three unique bar concepts, a magnificent outdoor pool located on the rooftop with jawdropping views of Madrid’s cityscape, a wellness and spa facility, and a series of spectacular meeting and event spaces drenched in natural light.
The Madrid EDITION will feature 200 elegantly appointed guest rooms and suites, including multiple connecting units – for groups of friends and families – as well as an exclusive selection of rooms with private terraces.
“This is not just a hotel,” says Schrager. “It’s much more than merely a place to sleep. It is a true hub of popular culture, entertainment and social interaction that is a microcosm of the best of Madrid and that perfectly captures the city’s spirit and essence,” says Schrager. “It’s about creating an original and new kind of gathering place for both locals and visitors alike.”
The hotel’s design – under the ever-watchful eye of Ian Schrager Company – is an unlikely combination of the refined elegance, purity and simplicity of British architect John Pawson and the artistry, spirit and originality of Paris-based François Champsaur.
“Every time I visit Madrid, I am conscious of the cultural intensity of the city,” explains John Pawson. “It has a particular energy and a strong sense of place. With The Madrid EDITION, I wanted to make somewhere with an equal but different intensity – calm spaces to withdraw to, but also an environment charged with its own life and identity. Ian and I have been working on projects almost continuously for the past two decades. When you collaborate with someone for this long, a deep and instinctive mutual understanding develops. At the same time, we still retain a capacity to surprise each other, which helps to keep the creative thinking fresh.”
The building itself, which sits on Plaza de la Descalzas with evocative views of a 16th-century royal monastery, is clean-lined and modern, embellished only by a decorative 18th-century baroque portal – designed by Spanish architect Pedro de Ribera – which was salvaged from an adjacent building. From here, you can access the hotel’s signature restaurant, while its main entrance, around the corner, features an explosion of greenery and a seductive copper canopy that leads to a dark fired oak-lined space anchored by a spectacular sculptural spiral staircase that ribbons fluidly to the lobby on the upper ground floor above.
