Polished stone façade & cantilevered black glass windows 
Cypress fossil single column sculpture 
Large pebbles enclosed in netting detail 
Cypress Fossil sculpture column & glass ceiling 
Reception – lipstick red figure eight beanbag chair 
‘Splash & Crash’ bar 
‘Splash & Crash‘ illustration & Ron Arad sofa 
21st century classic design 
Spiral staircase 
Metal bench & painting 
Corridor signage
Lounge - eclectic 20th century classic furniture 
Frank Gehry ply chair & various 
Cypress Fossil prototype bowl 
Funky shelving feature
Programme 11
Overview
The Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao, facing the Guggenheim Museum, is the Silken Hotels' first five-star and the chain's pride. The hotel expresses a contemporary concept that avoids ostentation, promotes fun and offers a simplistic and distinctive style.
Owners
The Hotel's Silken Group, founded in 1995 and wholly funded with Spanish capital, are the owners of Gran Hotel Domine. They manage 32 hotels in different cities throughout Spain and two more abroad, in Brussels and Andorra. It has seven further projects under way, all for incorporation within the next two years. Designed throughout by Javier Mariscal in a project that cost more than 19 million Euros, this was the first designer hotel in Spain.
History
Not much more than a decade ago, the northern Spanish city of Bilbao was in terminal decline. Its reinvention as a capital of chic is down to one building - the Guggenheim Museum - designed by Frank Gehry which opened in 1997. Since the Gran Hotel Domine opened in 2002, numerous other hotels and restaurants have also sprung up. A whole new district has grown on the riverfront and the city's existing museums and galleries have been revamped. The design by Frank Gehry is avant-garde but also true to Bilbao's past by incorporating the anatomy of a fish and the upturned hull of a boat as fishing has always been a mainstay of the Bilbao and wider Basque economy.
Features
The interior designer Fernando Salas collaborated closely with the Estudio Mariscal in preparing and designing the project. Chrome, steel, marble, and an abundance of large and small-scale modern art fill the public areas. The interior looks like, and quite literally is, a museum of twentieth century furniture design, containing representative pieces from a variety of eras and schools. The exterior is created from polished stone, with black glass windows cantilevered out from the facade of odd angles, reflecting the architecture of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao. All the rooms are well-thought out, with a long, well-lit counter-table that is useful for computers and paperwork, a comfortable armchair, and art works signed by Javier Mariscal, who was responsible for much of the hotel's design. The rooms are spacious and filled with eye-opening designer touches, and flourishes of bold colour enliven the walls and furniture.