The High End Boutique Hotel is located in the peaceful and tranquil place of Borkowo near Gdansk within the Pomorskie County in Poland, displaying a great atmosphere in a spectacular natural setting, with an excellent view and access to the Lake Glebokie in Borkowo, surrounded by a forest. Was conceived as a perfect escape location from the hustle and bustle of the modern fast pace urban life style, a place where comfort, intimacy and luxury are balancing with moderation, involved by a faultless notion of good taste and respect toward the surrounding nature. It is a High End Hotel concept, placed in a farther afield location, which gives the special touch of a personalized accommodation distinctive for a Boutique Hotel, small enough for the intimate feel, genuinely stylish and luxuriously comfortable, offering top-draw services. The Hotel accommodates ten housing units, the ground floor living, entertaining and dinning area and a wellness, spa and fitness area in connection to the exterior infinity pool deck.
The building Composition character is dual and ambivalent, as there is a dialogue between main volumes substantiality, between their supporting structures and another regarding the orientation of the building.
From the external main entrance area the building has a less transparent appearance, by joining the two different clad volumes reflecting the main destinations, one with wooden appearance corresponding to the accommodation area of the hotel and the other stone clad ground floor living areas which links the building to the ground having a massive solid appearance on which a greater degree of transparency was applied for reasons of balance and for taking advance of the southern orientation for the living areas through the access and annexes filter.
The stone clad volume from the entrance announces and articulates the stone open fronted basement from the lakefront, dedicated to sports, spa leisure activities in direct connection to the infinity pool area. From this side, the substantiality of the volumes keeps supporting the detachment between public and private, while the entire building opens towards the lake for maximum transparency.
The building morphs in to the landscape, the design approach being a contextual and sustainable one, in which the Context was considered as the preeminent factor for the chosen vernacular architecture that is responsible and responsive to its geographic, cultural, and temporal surroundings in achieving balance between man, built and environment, and beneficial of all.
The basement is excavated into the landscape, marking the place in total respect for the nature, local stone cladding material being used restoring natural beauty and expressing creation, insertion and building affiliation to its natural environment. Wooden volume hosting the housing of the hotel has an archetypal shape taken from traditional architecture. Viewing from the lake this suspended volume contrasts with the stone basement cast in the ground, thus the building appears as a local landmark, best expressed during evening hours through the contrasting volume146;s enhanced by the illuminated ground floor restaurant area and its related terrace.
The composition has a horizontal axis, following the level curves of relief, and a vertical axis represented by the small internal 147;atrium148; of three levels high, covered by roof-mounted skylights providing natural day light over the main staircase and hall landings of the hotel.
The Design has been driven by spotting opportunities for synergies within the project aiming environmental goals towards a LEED Gold Certification, addressing key areas in the sustainability approach:
The sustainable site development, where adopted strategies for preventing erosion and means to re-establish a native ecology for restoring the habitat, were used by applying local building traditions coupled with new technologies and design innovations: revegetating the land with using erosion control blankets for slope protection; placing the building into the hillsides taking advantage of the natural land gradient but also act as retaining structure to support the landscape; the use of a series of terraced vegetated areas, and stairs to allow people to easily access different levels; Circulation pergola, and trees to provide natural shading, cooling and daylight filtration. The land is being redeveloped for public purposes by regeneration of a local lakeside attraction while adding a small pontoon and floating jetty for sail boats at the lakeshore.
For water efficiency purposes strategies were adopted for rainwater harvesting, grey water re-cycling, sewerage collection and natural dissipation.
Concerning energy efficiency special attention was given to the passive design, passive practice being the common denominator for a responsible and sustainable architecture. The passive design was considered in order to obtain a building with low energy cost, reduced maintenance, and superior comfort, by taking advantage of understanding the building site wind patterns, terrain vegetation, solar exposure.
The orientation of the building prevents solar penetration in hot hours, reducing cooling needs. Also, the solar radiation was directed by design to penetrate towards thermal mass materials on certain walls and floors to act during the day like solar collectors, heat absorbers and during the night like distribution systems.
The cross ventilation was encouraged by placing large openings on opposite sides of the building. 147;Wing wall148; devices where placed extended beyond the flat faccedil;ade for acting like scoops to help lateral wind capture and generate different pressures on the same side of the building. Also, the thermal chimney effect was used for better ventilation reasons, by controlled positioning of lower windows and upper skylights, along the internal atrium.
The material selection was chosen in the spirit of using as much as possible local products stone timber, recycled facade and deck panels made of high grade recycled and recyclable compounds and environmentally friendly sheep wool insulation.
The indoor environmental quality was addressed on a few levels, from the subtle issues that influence how guests feel in a space, like for instance letting them experience a greater sense of well being when they can make easy adjustments to their immediate space such as through operable windows, skylights and sliding doors; awareness of outside surroundings and conditions, and allowing connection with nature. Each guest is entitled to a splendid view towards the lake and forest, towards the sky and landscape from every location within the building and also to step outside when desired, to using building management controls for maximum comfort optimization and also considering the choice of paints, adhesives, sealants, furniture, wood sealants and other needed products with a low or no VOC content to help ensure the health of the occupants.
This High End Boutique Hotel Design Concept focused on engaging passive principles for creating a vernacular and altogether contemporary solution for the building that conspires with its context in guiding both aesthetic and environmental design strategies.