THE NEW PROPOSAL OF THE HOTEL-CONVENTION
“TORRE DEL PUERTO” (PORT TOWER)
Location: Málaga – Costa del Sol
Author: José Seguí Pérez. Architect ESTUDIO SEGUÍ
Project Date: 2020
Developer: Andalusian Hospitality II
1 – THE PROJECT
The new proposal for the Hotel-Convention “Torre del Puerto”, promoted by “Andalusian Hospitality II” of the “Al Alfia” group and designed by the technical team of “Estudio Seguí” led by the architect José Seguí, includes the determinations of the document “Modification of the Special Plan for the Port” which was provisionally approved by the Town Planning Department of Malaga City Council in November 2020.The reduction of the base of the building due to a 45-metre setback to the Levante breakwater, where the new bus car park would be located to reinforce the public transport of the Cruise Terminal, makes it necessary to re-study the volumetric proportion of the tower in its relationship with the base, reducing its height to 27 floors (116.62 m) and also improving its architectural aspects and its suitability in its relationship with the urban and port landscape of the city. In this sense, the glazed terraces of its façades are designed to allow asymmetrical undulations in its elliptical floors, enhancing its architectural profile that looks out over the city trying to contemplate it, and also incorporating this outdoor space as attractive viewpoints for the 378 rooms (312 standard and 66 suites) that meet the requirements of the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Tourism for the Five Star “GL” (Grand Luxury) hotel category. The “Convention Hall” has been enlarged for a capacity of 1,100 seats with more stage equipment to accommodate the city’s big shows and public events. The new “Mirador” on the top floor, which, as a “lantern” of the Tower, includes café areas, restaurants and large terraces to contemplate the most exceptional landscape of the city and the sea; and the landscaped spaces of its urban surroundings improving the image of the Levante platform in its connection with Piers 1 and 2, would be the main features of the new proposal that maintains the rest of its programme of lounges and dining rooms, the garden terrace extending its infinity pools, and the roof area of 43. 515.73 m2 built above ground level, with its two floors below ground level to meet the 400 regulatory parking spaces and general services of the building.
2 – THE VIEWS
The city is shaped as a permanently mutant space as a consequence of the continuous transformations that take place at each moment in its history, provoking different views of the new landscapes that will inevitably always be unfinished in time.The distances between the built elements are one of the main bases for understanding the landscape as a visual perception produced by any intervention, the keys to which will be found precisely in this spatial relationship established between them and from which their architectural conception and the new landscape it generates will be justified. The 360º photographic shots, as a “Street View”, try to show the most real visual perception of the Hotel “Torre del Puerto” in its relationship with the city.
3 – ACTIVITY
The combined offer, not only of high-end hotels with their attractive complementary services, but also their capacity to attract the major national and international events that the city’s important activity may require, can provide greater diversification to its current tourist and cultural activity, boosting and qualifying its economic development and the greater generation of jobs that it may generate. The operation of the new hotel could also involve a total investment of 120 million euros, with an estimated 450 direct and indirect jobs for its different offers, in addition to those that will be created during the construction phase. It is worth noting the amounts generated by its Economic Activities and Real Estate Tax, in addition to the payment of occupation and activity fees for the administrative concession itself, which will always retain its status as public port property, including the private resources generated at the end of the temporary concession, which will once again become the property of the Port Authority, thus avoiding the speculation that could occur as private land.
4 – THE PROCEDURE
The long administrative process, motivated by the uniqueness of the project and its important presence in the city, has required important collective debates and public information throughout its complex process, which began with the public competition called by the Port Authority through the Project Competition procedure, which was resolved in July 2016, awarding the Provisional Concession to the company “Andalusian Hospitality II”, followed by the procedures required in the document of Delimitation of Spaces for Port Uses (DEUP), which was finally approved in July 2017. Subsequently, the specific modification of the Special Plan for the Port was presented to the Municipal Urban Planning Management of Malaga City Council, in addition to the Strategic Environmental Assessment document provided for in the GICA, which was sent to the Territorial Delegation of Fisheries, Agriculture and Environment of the Andalusian Regional Government, which issued a favourable report in October 2017, to continue with the process of modifying the Special Plan, which the Municipal Urban Planning Management initially approved in June 2018 and provisionally approved in November 2020, establishing a series of conditions to be fulfilled that are included in the Hotel’s new proposal. Once the modification of the Special Plan has been definitively approved, the Port Authority will seek authorisation from the Council of Ministers to grant the Definitive Concession for the construction of the building, and will then present the project for obtaining the Works Licence to the Municipal Urban Planning Authority.
5 – THE VIDEO
Using cinematographic techniques that capture the urban reality surrounding the proposal with different shots of “drone” flights made for this purpose, the following video of the new proposal is shown.