In a 17th-century Venetian palace, the choice of flooring for the guest rooms becomes a design strategy: Star KR by Skema meets technical constraints without ever betraying the identity of the place.
Renovating in Venice allows no distractions. Every interior decision in a historic building is a negotiation between image and constraint.
Located in the heart of the city, Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal welcomes guests in a palace dating back to the early decades of the 1600s, overlooking the Grand Canal and featuring direct access from the scenic “water gate”.
From many of the rooms and from the restaurant terrace, the view opens onto the San Marco Basin, with San Giorgio, Giudecca, Punta della Dogana and the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute.
It is a setting that demands coherence: hospitality here is perceived quality, but also the daily management of flows and maintenance, without the project ever losing its balance.
Today the hotel offers ninety-two rooms, in addition to the Grand Canal Restaurant and the Ridotto, a multifunctional hall accompanied by several smaller spaces for celebratory, convivial or corporate events, including those of international scope.
The Grand Canal Restaurant, with its indoor dining room and outdoor terrace, is presented as one of the focal points of the hotel experience: a classic identity, views over the Grand Canal, and a gastronomic narrative guided by the historic chef Sandro Traini and his team.
The surface as a generative choice
The rooms are elegant and understated, with refined furnishings and details where Venetian style emerges through precious fabrics, murrine glass, mosaics and chandeliers, in a continuous fusion of baroque and minimalism. In interiors so rich, the floor cannot afford to become a “theme”: it must be a grammar. A material capable of supporting everything else, holding together different rooms without imposing a parallel narrative.
This is where Star KR works in the most interesting way for a designer: not as a “statement”, but as a discreet perceptual infrastructure.
Star KR in the rooms: perceptual coherence, operational management
Star KR is based on synchropore technology, allowing an accurate and realistic reproduction of wood grain and knots, even to the touch, with an ultra-matt surface and a vocation clearly oriented toward contexts where performance matters as much as aesthetics. The flooring is certified for use in high-traffic environments (domestic use class 23, commercial use class 33), features reduced thickness, quick installation, and a set of characteristics consistent with contract use, such as 18 dB impact sound reduction, resistance to water and scratches, and fire reaction class Bfl-s1 (excellent behavior in case of fire and low smoke emission). These qualities are particularly valuable when the goal is to reduce operational variables and maintain consistent quality over time.
In the rooms, this translates into a surface that must withstand the daily repetition of cleaning routines, guest arrivals, and the constant movement of suitcases and trolleys.
When the floor does not seek attention
The choice of surface works precisely in this direction: it does not seek the spotlight, but the stability of the whole. It anchors the proportions of the space, accompanies changing light, and allows identity-defining elements—furnishings, decorations and proportions—to guide perception. For designers, it is a concrete reminder: when architecture is already a story, the best material is the one that supports it with precision and, above all, never interrupts it.
