ForbesLife: Inside Milan's Futuristic Excelsior Hotel Gallia
The fashion capital of the world has a haute new looker. After a multimillion-dollar revamp, Milan’s circa 1932 Excelsior Hotel Gallia just reopened–and the design is unapologetically dripping in space age luxe. Taking inspiration from the city’s modernist new skyline and the hotel’s art deco past, Milan-based Studio Marco Piva helmed the makeover, decking every inch in out-of-this-world chic futurism. Here are just few of the highlights that made my jaw drop:
1. Is it abstract art or is it a lobby?Through glass revolving doors, you enter an insanely sleek world of marble, chrome, aluminum, steel, and granite. Shiny, geometric-shaped lights hang from curved wires; while giant gemstone-like sculptures, George Jetson-esque mod chairs and laser-clean-lined furnishings outfit the shockingly minimalist space. Behind the reception desk, digitally decked-out in Wacom tablets, stands a small army of fashionably black-clad staffers ready to check you in so efficiently, you wonder if they’re part robot…or at least part of the streamlined décor. In fact, the service is so attentive don’t attempt to carry even a small bag without someone trying to take it off your hands. I tried…and failed.
2. Love the lights.Whether you stand at the bottom or top of the hotel’s original art deco staircase be prepared to have your mind blown: Milan-based designer De Majo’s 30-meter-high Murano glass light installation cascades through the eight-story stairwell like a waterfall of lanterns.
Also of note, while most elevator waiting areas are painfully unimpressive, here it’s stunningly dramatic. A flying saucer-like white light hovers over a stark circular cushion in the center of an otherwise dark hall on every floor. The effect: you’re simultaneously wowed by the designer creations, while secretly dying to stand between the two and ask Scotty to beam you up.
3. You gotta go to the bathroom.Yep, the public bathrooms are downright sexy. Highlights include motion-sensing doors that slide open spaceship-style revealing a backlit glowing toilette and…wait for it…cubist-shaped marble urinals in the men’s room.
4. I want to wear the hotel room doors.Hands-down Oscar-worthy, all 235-guest room doors are dressed to the hilt in luxurious brown or white leather and accessorized with a hint of chrome. If they weren’t so solid, thick, and vault-like, I’d have ripped one off the hinges and worn it home.
5. Hello, high-tech.While the rooms and suites may be minimalist, there’s a lot going on behind those lavish, designer walls: from the teched-out phones to the digital lights with “scene” and motion censors, the chromo-therapy shower to the “make up my room” and “privacy” buttons. That’s just the cusp of this ultra-wired retreat…but as much as I could figure out.
6. Space age bliss.Forget the fact that the hotel now houses Milan’s largest spa spanning 1000sqm over two floors–the designers nailed space age bliss. Sleek white lounges surround the 15-meter indoor pool that sits below giant geometric light sculptures. Purple-lit relaxation rooms are ultra mod and chic, including one that chills with a glass-encased ice machine that looks like it’s making diamonds of snow.