British architect Norman Foster's many accomplishments include the Bilbao metro, London's Millennium Bridge and the Beijing airport's international terminal. He's now ready to add one more to the list: a super-luxury, seven-star hotel slated for construction in Selva di Val Gardena, a charming village in the Italian Dolomite Mountains.

But despite Foster's world class credentials, his high-tech ski lodge isn't receiving universal welcome in the quiet Italian mountain town. The municipality and the provincial administration have not yet given their final approvals, and there has been an awkward uncertainty about who exactly has jurisdiction about what.

The star architect's project promises, if nothing else, to be conspicuous. The hotel will have a saltwater swimming pool overlooking Mount Cimapinoi, and a 360-square-meter suite that will include a conference room, a gourmet restaurant and a ball room. According to its critics – who call the project a 50,000-cubic meter "designer monster" – the hotel will also have a serious impact on the local environment.

Claudio Riffeser, president of the local cable railway company Funivie Saslong Spa, supports the project, which is set to replace an older hotel called Sochers. "This building will boost the local economy and tourism," he says.

Construction is expected to begin in 2012 and finish by the following year. The project's final price tag is expected to be somewhere in the 50 million euro range. The design alone cost 2.5 million euros. Norman Foster, interestingly enough, has never actually been to Selva. But he has employed a team of 10 people who go back and forth between the village and his main offices in London.

The state of the art hotel will receive a Class A energy ranking and will consume less than 30 kWhm² per year. The smallest rooms will be between 60 and 70 square meters. The transparent corridors and a futuristic 80-meter-long rooftop pathway will overlook the stunning Dolomites. The facility will also offer round-the-clock service. Guests will be able to have their clothes ironed – at any time of the day – in just 20 minutes. The hotel will also have an on-staff hairstylist and limousine driver. In exchange for all that luxury, guests will have to shell out between 700 and 5,500 euros per night.

For now, however, the project is still on hold. So far the municipality has yet to sell the developers a 1,500-square-meter plot of land they'll need to complete the project, which is also lacking authorization from the provincial government. Considering the controversy Mr. Foster's top of the line ski lodge has stirred up, nothing's a given. As "green" as the hotel promises to be, there's still no guarantee local authorities will issue a final green light.

Read the original article in Italian

CORRECTION: due to an error in the original text, an earlier version of this article mistakenly credited Foster with designing Dubai's Burj al Arab Hotel, better known as "the sailboat".

Photo - Lo.Tangelini