Located in the historic center of Rome, near Piazza Navona, the Raphael Hotel includes a collection of fifty guestrooms and suites as well as a new rooftop restaurant. The existing building façade blends seamlessly into the historic urban fabric and is left intact, while the interior architecture has been updated by reusing traditional materials to achieve contemporary qualities of space and light. Use of readily found local materials such as European white oak, integral colored plaster, Carrara marble, and regional textiles serves to ground the architecture in this historic environment.

Each of the fifty guestrooms (ten per floor) has been planned to take full advantage of existing windows to maximize daylight. All windows are fitted with operable wood screens designed as contemporary shutters to control daylight and privacy. Interior bathrooms borrow natural light through large glass panels fitted with privacy wood shutters.

The restaurant on the building roof, a ribbon of windows wraps around the main dining room, opens to multiple dining terraces providing views across the Roman cityscape.

Credits

Design Team:
Michael Palladino
Alex Wuo
Harrison Bains
Seung Jo

Building Photography:
Hotel Raphael

Project delivered through
Richard Meier and Partners Los Angeles