News Coronado Springs Expansion - Gran Destino Tower

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dreday3

Well-Known Member
xdan0920 said:
Oh, I think that's exactly what it is. Maybe replace kitschy with garish though?
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So will I see you in the kitschy garish ostentatious pretentious bland bar for a drink? I'll be discussing Catalan Modernism in relation to the design of this hotel with a small group of intellectuals. :D


(inspired by, not replicate - although if they built this, it would have been awesome)
casa-batllo-house-design-by-antonio-gaudi-barcelona-catalonia-spain-HKGPBJ.jpg
casa-batllo-noble-floor-2.jpg
 
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dreday3

Well-Known Member
Casper Gutman said:
If you think immersive, even excessive, theming is “kitschy” and “in your face,” you’re kind of missing the point is Disney in general and WDW in particular.

The Disney Parks are the dreamland of a company built on candy-colored talking animals, tights-clad superhumans, tuneful fairytale princesses, and valiant space wizards. Subtle ain’t part of it.

But don’t worry about missing that point. The people running WDW miss it too.
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What's wrong with kitschy? I'm not using it as an insult. I'm saying this hotel isn't trying for that, it's more adult, convention oriented and they got it right.

But don't worry about missing my point. Other people here miss it too. :)


I'll extricate myself from the thread now. Have a great 4th!
 
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lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Sir_Cliff said:
Could you be a bit more specific about what you mean about "round shapes just shoved into square openings" in this case? I am sincerely interested.

I am not trained in architecture at all, but when I think of the moderates I think of these kinds of "frills" applied to big, functional spaces:

View attachment 385920
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What about this is just applied? Yes, that’s not a real masonry wall but nothing about it’s appearance is contrary to how a masonry wall would appear. The canopy frame is part of a story that is being told, a remnant of a time before the ironwork was added to expand the space.

Look at the photos of the restaurant. There are giant arched frames that are shoved into rectangular window openings between the square engaged columns. In the lobby space you have these sculpted columns and select textured walls, all repeating this ovaloid motif but the walls are flat and interrupted by those same large, square engaged columns. The decoration, interior and exterior, are all about ovals and curves, but that doesn’t happen with the building. There are no oval spaces or arches or smoothed corners, it’s big and rectangular.

The roofs of the Port Orleans French Quarter room buildings are a little small and plastic looking, but they are also recessed enough that they tend to be more background than foreground. As @Missing20K showed, the general form of deep balconies is derived from the inspiration. Image doing something like a ToonTown or Wizarding World hotel. Some angled railings and decorations would not make a very thick, rectangular building look like it is teetering.
 
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lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
So will I see you in the kitschy garish ostentatious pretentious bland bar for a drink? I'll be discussing Catalan Modernism in relation to the design of this hotel with a small group of intellectuals. :D


(inspired by, not replicate - although if they built this, it would have been awesome)
View attachment 386074View attachment 386075
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You just said there are no buildings that could be imitated. The building and spaces show no inspiration from the likes of Gaudí. There is a complete lack of even simple elements like arches, vaults or even round columns.
 
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dreday3

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
You just said there are no buildings that could be imitated. The building and spaces show no inspiration from the likes of Gaudí. There is a complete lack of even simple elements like arches, vaults or even round columns.
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You are right - they could have imitated the buildings in my pictures, instead they were just inspired by. I see the inspiration in the hotel design, you don't.
 
Missing20K

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
The tower is inspired by artistry of Barcelona. There are no buildings that they can directly copy like above pics.

Again, I dont think it's meant to be kitschy, in your face theming.

I think they got it exactly right with Gran Destino.
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It's sorta been addressed in the other posts, but there is much precedent from Barcelona they could have drawn upon. There is in fact an entire architectural movement called "Catalan Modernism", Antoni Gaudi being the most famous of the practitioners. Others have posted examples of his work and how this tower falls incredibly short of those precedents. They pulled the most easily recognized aspects of Gaudi and his work (the ovoid patterns and organic shapes) without really understanding what the art was conveying (@lazyboy97o does a nice job of commenting on how they even failed to understand the rudimentary aspects of a Gaudi-esque design philosophy). Furthermore, Gaudi is well known for his landscape design and urban spaces. This tower lacks any real connection to it's surroundings and does a poor job of creating new urban spaces within it's environmental context.

As another quick example of them missing the forest for the trees. They appear to love the idea of the catenary arch as a design motif, but seem to lack an understanding of how Catalan Modernism viewed the catenary arch because they aren't using the arches to create space (save a few examples) and they certainly aren't using the arches as a mechanical and/or structural element. Quite honestly, it's a bit difficult to tell if they are even true catenary arches and are instead parabolic arches. Some appear to be the former, some are most certainly the latter (looking at you facade arches at the top of the tower).

Plainly speaking, for this resort to be inspired by, or themed to, a Gaudi-esque experience of the Riviera, there would be far fewer straight lines and cubic volumes of space, and far more sinewy curves and asymmetric, bulbous spacial enclosures.
 
Missing20K

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
Here's more pics - just love it! :)
And for those that don't, here's another chance for you to impress with your knowledge of why this isn't working.

View attachment 386368View attachment 386369View attachment 386370View attachment 386371View attachment 386372
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You're welcome to enjoy it as much as others are welcome to be critical.

It's a very nice hotel. It appears to be well appointed.

I simply fail to see what makes this resort "more timeless, more relevant, more family, more Disney". It is not terribly different than any number of hotels around the world, particularly those found in large metropolitan cities and tourist areas. A few hidden Mickeys and that's all it seems to take to make a space "Disney".

The heart of a Disney experience is storytelling. What story is the guest being told when they book a room here? Well, I will let the Disney website marketing literature do the work:
Projected to open December 16, 2019, Disney’s Riviera Resort will celebrate the grandeur of Europe—which has long inspired some of the greatest Disney stories with its castles and fairy-tale villages. Here, you can create your own great Disney story in the middle of the magic. At the end of each enchanting day, warm and stylish accommodations will welcome you, with a full range of options from cozy Tower Studios to spacious 1-Bedroom Villas, 2-Bedroom Villas and 3-Bedroom Grand Villas.
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So the guest is supposed to create their own story. That seems incredibly lazy to me, and I make no apologies for calling out such laziness.
 

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