Caves have been used as a refuge and haven since time immemorial, and this is what inspired the renovation of a Greek spa hotel. Within the hard, protective shell – concrete clad with locally sourced stone – a warm and inviting interior opens out, featuring a sculptural design in spruce. The kitchen, cupboards and floor are made from knot-free pine plywood. An air gap between the wooden structure and the concrete shell regulates the room’s humidity and temperature using the wood’s natural capacity to absorb moisture. This was important, because the hotel sits at high altitude and the temperature fluctuates considerably all year round.
The curved structure consists of 1,112 different wooden pieces, sawn from trees that grow locally. The design for each section was produced algorithmically and the pieces were then manually converted into 55 larger modules. Each of the modules was hand-carved and shaped before the final assembly, in order to make the end result more sculptural.
Read more at tenon-architecture.com and check out the making of youtube-clip!
