Beach Hotel in Odesa
Year: 2020
Area: 134 sq.m.
Location: Odesa, UA
Architects: Alexey Gulesha
This room is the first part of a large hotel project, which I started to design half a year ago. The design of this interior was inspired by the James Bond movies from 80th. I wanted to make one number not like the rest. It will be luxurious, liberated and show a contrast between a brutal “cave” looking walls and a many cozy corners and zones in it.
I like to feel the surface of the material tactilely and not visually and compare materials by touching them. I call this tactile contrast. So, for example, a soft carpet will seem even softer if before that you walked on a hard cold concrete floor.
I also like to draw people’s attention to the fact that the materials to the touch may not be what they seem visually. For example, this Cini Boeri’s armchairs looks like a cold piece of glass, but they are surprisingly convenient and comfortable when you sit in it. The glass is curved so ergonomically that it even seems soft.
I really wanted to make bathing in this room look like bathing in a hot spring, so I made the bath bowl in the same material as the entire floor in this room. It grows smoothly from the surface of the floor and is very similar to a small pool that arose in the floor under the influence of natural forces.
Also there’s a smart glass between toilet and bath area, so when someone comes into the toilet the glass becomes opaque.
This work space was designed without any chest of drawers, because this hotel situated on a beautiful beach and I want the clients to spent more time there rather than work. It is only for Skype calls, emails etc.
The idea of the materials is that in this digital era, when work means siting on the PC and answering email for 2-3 hours I want to see and feel something natural, which will deliver my thoughts somewhere over this table and screen, so I think that would be cool to sometimes touch a brutal rock plate to feel how powerful nature is.
I also like how the steel desk cut this big slice of rock and emphasize the contrast between human technology and power of nature.
The interesting detail is that there’s a hidden shelf in this rock, so the books are like growing from the stone.
There’s a few restaurants in this hotel, so this kitchen is just for some small personal needs like small snacks, coffee, cocktails etc. There’s even no dining table because of this.
