Mario Botta hotel project turned down
The commune of Celerina near St Moritz has overwhelmingly rejected a SFr200 million ($201.6 million) hotel development designed by star Swiss architect Mario Botta.
There was a 72 per cent “no” vote on Monday evening to plans to build a 77-metre high tower in the shape of a crystal. The voting was 296 to 88.
Botta’s plans featured 300 hotel rooms on the tower’s 17 storeys and up to 25 apartments in four-storey blocks next to it.
The proposal would have required changing land and construction regulations.
The vote was one of the town’s best attended meetings.
Mark Meili, head of Engadine St Moritz Railways, which commissioned the plans, called the rejection a “clear slap in the face”.
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