Four Points by Sheraton arrives in Hungary

It was the boost given to business tourism by the opening of a Daimler-Mercedes Benz facility employing 2,500 workers in the Hungarian city of Kecskemét that highlighted the city’s lack of adequate hotel accommodation. Kész Zrt (a Hungarian group with wide-ranging expertise in the real-estate sector) took the situation in hand and coordinated a programme that persuaded Sheraton and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to grant use of the brand name and to manage the current (4 star) Four Points by Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Kecskemét. The architectural project was coordinated by Csaba Kelemen as part of the concept created by Zoltán Porcsalmy, former head of the Kész Design Division. The interior design project was assigned to the architect Mihály Csikós and steps verified with Sheraton and Starwood. The programme involved converting a dated rectangular-plan office building (four above-ground levels with ribbon windows), of which only the columns and unfinished floors were maintained. Everything else, including the elliptically shaped penthouse, was built from scratch. The construction systems developed in various colours by Kész had a major impact on the resultant aesthetics and architecture. The exterior walls in particular were clad with 4,700 square metres of Alpolic® coated aluminium composite panels. The dynamic façade features a prevalence of rust-coloured panels rather than the classic aluminium versions, a choice that accentuates the verticalisation of the volumes and the alternation with large windows. Pale colours were chosen for the other walls to create a kind of transition between the hotel and the adjacent industrial buildings. As the low ceiling prevented an adequate lobby from being built, the first-floor slab was partially cut away to create the space for an elegant two-floor atrium. This space is emphasised by cladding the slender capital-topped columns (which also serve as lighting fixtures) with black mirror glass and the floors with Etic Palissandro wood-look porcelain tiles from Atlas Concorde. Etic Palissandro and stone-effect Milestone were also used in other common spaces, while glossy black glass, decorative resins and engraved solid wood panels were widely used throughout the project. To give priority to guest services, the former office building was devoted entirely to hotel spaces. There are a total of 130 rooms and 6 suites with floor spaces ranging from 24 to 82 square metres, a 140-seat restaurant, a café, a bar, a fitness centre and a large wellness area. The Congress Centre was set up in a new three-floor building constructed to the rear. With a floor space of 1,400 square metres, the centre can seat 450 people and has seven meeting rooms plus a 380 square metre ballroom which can be divided into three separate areas.