Hotel Strata / PLASMA Studio
Architect: PLASMA Studio
Location: Sexten /Sesto, Italy
Project Year: 2007
Constructed Area: 1,510 sqm
Photographs: Cristobal Palma
Located on a steep hillside in the Italian Dolomites this new-built hotel has been developed as the interweaving of the free-flowing topography- indexed and organized by series of timber strips- and the serial sequence of appartment units perpendicular to it.
Since the overall shape was developed from the local planning guidelines, the linear distribution of units and the views and sun directions, it is a resultant of the constant negotiations among all these parameters as well as a topological answer to the picturesque typologies frequently built in the area. From applying the logic of topographical mapping i.e. the indexing of horizontal sections as continuous lines, the volume is formed as a series of strata that as an artificial entity maintains a dialogue with its natural environment. In addition these horizontal sections operate as control lines, enabling the generation of curved hyperbolic-parabolic geometry.
The bands surround the volume at different scales, peeling off from it, flowing into the landscape and blurring the boundaries of the building.
The balconies become in-between zones that negotiate the internal rationale of the apartments -ruled by efficiency and the repetition of parts- with the exterior- as extension of the topography.
Programme
The building is an extension to an already existing Apart – Hotel. As the context was not considered worth to be continued, the old and the new part connect only at an underground level and through a mediating low and inconspicuous building volume at ground floor level. The main building volume distinguishes consciously from the existing part.
Programmatically the new volume is divided into two parts: the right side of the wing is a rigid addition of the axis of the guestrooms, all directed to the view and the sun, the left one together with the mediating building is occupied by the private house of the client.
The two parts are visually divided from each other through a building volume which reads as an artificial topography and is an extension of the existing natural landscape. Programmatically this volume gives privacy to each of the two different zones of the building, conceptually the natural landscape unfolds into an artificial one and connects into the façade of the building which reads a series of folded bands which run around the volume and connect in the different parts to the natural topography of the hillside.
The guestrooms are all developed as family appartments: they all provide space for a living and dining area which is divided by a piece of furniture from the sleeping area of the parents, the kids get their own small sleeping corner. Each room has a balcony directed to view and sun, the façade behind is fully glazed. The furniture repeats the material of the outside bands: local larch wood. A series of wooden sticks is brought into the interior: it unfolds from a bench into a shelf and into a sofa and connects visually to the outside bands of the balconies. Each floor is accentuated by a different colour scheme.
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- site plan
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- ground floor plan
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- first floor plan
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- elevation 01
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- elevation 02
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- elevation 03
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- elevation 04
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- wooden bands axo
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- balcony detail
More wooden slats! It looks a bit like a yacht from the outside. I’m not sure I understand the building’s exterior, but inside it looks very comfortable.
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http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com
Its the Spruce Goose!! A stealth bomber made of wood! The execution looks absolutely phenomenal! That said, perhaps some sections where the slats/bands bridged the gaps would have made the overall form come through more and would have downplayed the yacht reading…all in all very well done!
also, excellent choice of firm name!
The term Plasma comes from Classic Greek and means modeling, form, fabric, imagination, fiction.
In Physics the Plasma State- or fourth state of matter- describes a unique condition of matter arising at a complex overlay of external forces. Plasma, a charged field of particles, conducts energy.
George…….”plasma” could also mean a human being. Instead of saying people we sometimes say plasmas.
I agree with george, if the slats/bands bridged the gaps it wouldnt look yacht-like, none the less the spacing and color of the bands create very nice effect with the landscape, . One comment on my behalf, if the building dove into the landscape at a slant from the south-east end (first thumbnail image), it would complete its settlement into the landscape, further elaborate the presence of the slick lines, no?
there is an epic corridor on the lower floor. it is 32m long!! Oh, and there is another one right next to it! well ok, its a hotel but the (many) corridors have absolutely no spacial quality. (i hope there are some rooflights)
if it wasnt for that facade masturbation with wooden slats the hotel wouldnt attract attention.
at the end it is just an expressive self running theme, that doesnt generate interesting architecture. They should have invested more time reflecting on the foor plans that are really trivial.
i see more Graphic or Industrial Design than Architecture to be honest.
very grazer schule… very nice !!!
‘An extension of the topography’ and not one diagram, drawing, or photograph that convincingly depicts that relationship? Even in an aesthetic sense? I am not convinced that a relationship with the topography was a driving factor. Plasmastudio seems to think that asymmetric proportions and oblique angles somehow automatically translates into site and context sensitivity, whereas they really just like to have fun with shapes.
Amazing.
oh boy! more disney futurism!!!