the emblem

Thanks to the strategic position of the site just a few steps from Lucca’s old city, it is only natural that the building become a luxury hotel complex (including serviced apartments) while also a new destination for the city’s inhabitants by offering publicly accessible facilities, such as the art gallery, a restaurant, a rooftop bar, and sculpture garden. The building’s design is inspired by the famous, decorative columns typical of Lucca’s historic architecture, interpreted in a contemporary key as a recurring pattern of diagonally intersecting columns along the façades. The columniation also continues throughout the interiors, complemented by exposed beams and skylights, to echo the site’s industrial roots.

The project, called The Emblem, provides for a large double-height reception lobby that also doubles as a temporary exhibition space / art gallery, reflecting Lucca’s history as a center for the fine arts, while the hotel rooms take up the three upper floors of the new building. The complex is completed by apartments for residential use on the first and second floors of the renovated historic building at the corner of the site. The Emblem also includes ample retail (e.g., shops for clothing, jewelry, art, souvenirs, etc.), a spacious restaurant, gym, spa, and rooftop bar with an amazing panoramic view of the surrounding neighborhood and onto Lucca’s famous gated wall. At the eastern side of the site and in line with the city’s zoning of the area, The Emblem offers a contemporary sculpture garden to visitors and city-dwellers alike. Finally, the entire site is covered by a single underground floor of parking, large enough to accommodate both the vehicles of the hotel occupants and those of the visitors to the various public amenities.