Starhotels is a hospitality company with luxury hotels in the world’s most popular cities including The Michelangelo in New York City’s Time Square and London’s uber luxurious Pelham Hotel in Kensington. For their latest project Starhotels opens a new hotel in downtown Bologna near the city’s Eataly agri-food park. To execute the project the hotel chain tapped eco-sustainable architect Massimo Iosa Ghini.

Massimo Ghini is most known for his incredible high tech & sustainable design. His most recent architecture projects include Miami’s flatiron residence in Brickell and the high tech Ferrari store in Milan. His work is recognized with prestigious awards including the Good Design Award by the Chicago Athenaeum, the iF Product Design Award in Germany, the Roscoe Award in the United States, the IAI AWARD Green Design Global Award and the IAI Award in Shanghai, China.

For Starhotels, Massimo’s firm spearheads both the architectural structure and the interior design. The hotel build includes 200 guest rooms, a garden, four swimming pools, and service areas for meetings and conferences. Also a breakfast area and cafeteria, reception, offices, a fitness center and spa.

The entire project will receive a “green touch”. Starhotels repurposed the existing building and materials to transform the 36,000 square foot space. Most of the materials are certified ecological such as the salvaged wood and recycled steel.

“We have worked on maintaining as much as possible of the structures that could be recovered.”

Massimo Iosa Ghini

In terms of technology, the hotel is located next to a photovoltaic field, a solar park. This natural resource helps support the geothermal system for air conditioning and hot water.

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Cover photo: Ferrari store designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini