Holiday Inn Express & Crowne Plaza, Aberdeen Airport

The hotels are under construction 400m south of the main runway at Aberdeen Airport. The development comprises a 193-bed 3-star Holiday Inn Express and a 165-bed 4-star Crowne Plaza which includes corporate lounge, gym and conference centre facilities with shared external landscaped and parking facilities

Due to the variation in site levels the buildings have been embedded in the landscape to reduce the impact on the surroundings.

The external envelopes of the hotels have been developed as an architectural family. Both buildings compliment each other but also retain their own identities.

The Holiday Inn Express is a white rendered box resting on a glazed curtain wall plinth. A simple rhythm of bedroom windows weaves across the elevations reflecting a standardised room layout on each hotel room floor level. The elevations are devoid of ornamentation and the external material aims to define the internal use.

The Crowne Plaza is considered the ‘bigger brother’. The concept of a box on a plinth has been developed however the materials used vary. The front entrance elevation emphasises this hotel as a luxury destination whilst projecting cladding panels offer a unique prismatic effect to the upper levels. Again, a simple rhythm of bedroom windows weaves across the main elevation - and does not delineate the class or type of bedroom incorporated within large areas of curtain walling.

The rear elevation of the hotel reflects the elevational language used within the adjacent hotel and shows a simple rhythm of punched windows within a white rendered facade.