It is known as the “ME” hotel and is the second highest hotel in Barcelona. It is a majestic aluminum tower located in Poblenou.
The Melià Barcelona Sky, “ME”, is 120 meters high and 29 floors and is the second tallest after the Hotel Arts which is 154 meters.
The hotel is located at the intersection of Avenida Diagonal and Pedro IV Street, in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood of the Catalan capital. It is a silver giant coated in shiny aluminum.
It was built in 2007 with a very original design by architect Dominique Perrault. Perrault was the same architect who designed the Great Library of France in Paris.
The challenge of the project to build the second tallest hotel in Barcelona
For the architect, building the hotel was a challenge both in terms of design and location.
It was built in an area that was in full transformation at that time. It was an area marked by an industrial past, but with a promising future in the field of services and tourism.
In this context, the project was born under the influence of a new urban planning concept.
Although the city is in “horizontal key” following the geometric rules of the Cerdà plan, it is also a vertical city with emblematic buildings such as the Sagrada Familia, the Collserolla Tower or the towers of the Vila Olímpica.
At the time, those responsible for the project indicated that the base of the hotel reflected a horizontal city and that its body and extension was the best example of the vertical city.
The building had technical complications due to the integration of geometric figures in its base (cubic construction) and in the building itself (a 120-meter high tower that is a rectangular parallelepiped cut in two lengthwise).
Most of the hotel’s 259 rooms are on the overhang, some 20 meters above street level that frames the entrance on Diagonal Avenue.
A hotel for climbers
Since its construction, the hotel has been a source of inspiration for climbers and adventurers.
The first to reach the summit was Alain Robert (on June 13, 2017), arriving in 20 minutes. The second feat was done by Marcin Banot (on August 2, 2018), climbing in 59 minutes.
In July 2020 and at the height of the pandemic, the Frenchman Leo Urban wanted to reach the top without authorization and on April 3, 2021 the British Goerge King was arrested when he reached the roof of the skyscraper without any tools other than his hands.
The hotel today
The building is currently occupied by two 4 and 5 star hotels of the Meliá Hotels International chain. It is accompanied by others of lesser height for housing and offices.
