Underground Hotel / ReardonSmith Architects

Dec 2009

By Karen Cilento — Filed under: Architecture News ,Hotels and Restaurants ,Sustainability , Hersham Golf Club, London, ReardonSmith Architects, Surrey

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When asked to design a luxury hotel and spa at Hersham Golf Club in Surrey (which is within London’s Green Belt) ReardonSmith Architects responded with plans for a subterranean building. Matthew Guy, ReardonSmith’s project designer, explained “Our concept integrates hotel, spa, and golf facilities into a single architecturally exciting and organic composition below and above ground. The design fulfills the requirements of the brief for a bespoke five star hotel while returning hard standing to the Green Belt and improving the physical layout and visual attraction of the entire site. It represents a commercially viable solution to developing in the Green Belt and is, we believe, a world-first.”

More about the hotel after the break.

Blanketed by a plush green roof that mimics the undulating nature of the golf course, the underground rooms are organized around landscaped courtyards, leaving just one level of public area at grade.

Light permeates the rooms by way of the 800m2 garden courtyards, which the rings of rooms are centered around. The entire development is set back from the local residential area and is positioned within an enclave of existing woodland in such a way that it is hidden from local residents’ view.

Both hotel and spa have been designed to minimize their carbon footprint by using combined heat and power generation, heat exchangers and ground source heat pumps, grey water recycling and rain water harvesting.

As seen on Architecture News Plus.

Cite:
Cilento , Karen . "Underground Hotel / ReardonSmith Architects" 24 Dec 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 09 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/44868>

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scarpa says:

This may be a great project…but with the images available, it might as well be a lawn with holes.

# December 25, 2009 at 01:21

arch alex g. says:

that is an interesting hotel project,which inspires me to my design project.

# December 25, 2009 at 03:37

Nicholas Patten says:

Underground Hotel. http://bit.ly/4LYn3F

# December 25, 2009 at 07:31

Tridahl says:

I find that the design is not very interesting. I’m afraid this kind of projects would only help undermine greenbelts and help developers to get access to restricted green areas in and around cities. In other words GREENWASH!

# December 25, 2009 at 11:53

terra australis says: