- Client
- Private
- Location
- Empordá, Spain
- Category
- Contest
- Videos
- Los Melez
- Collaborator
- Ariadna Barthe
Discovery is closely related to the feeling of being connected. Getting to know a new place entails submerging ourselves into a local culture, meeting new people and the surroundings they live in. Travelling can be an emotional journey, which turns the design of a hotel into an opportunity to enhance that experience.
In an era where everything spins faster and faster, holidays are slowly turning back to its original purpose. We want to discover, not just of the places we plan to visit but also, ourselves.
THE SLOW TRAVEL EXPERIENCE:
LEARNING AND DISCOVERING
Even though we are only temporarily passing through when travelling, it is possible to experience the life of a local if we are willing to slow down the pace and look for what is real. Searching for an authentic experience means we submerse ourselves into local customs and creativity. If listening to a local community enables us to learn and extend ourselves, a hotel could actually be part of the story.
What if a hotel would go beyond the traditional reception area, generic food and a place to sleep? What if through its character and selection of experiences (gastronomy, literature, music, activities and recommended excursions) it is capable of including foreigners into the local narrative of its context? What if the hotel turns into a gastronomic reference, transforming as such the experience? What if there is no longer a reception area but rather inviting and informative check-in points? What if we take the hotel as a means to support a local economy and spread the knowledge of a unique community? Is that in the end, what a transformative experience is?
A TEMPORARY HOME IN L’EMPORDÀ
The Golf Hotel offers a glimpse into the local life of L’Empordà, an area where old towns and castles are spread across fields and forests. L’Empordà’s essence can be found in every detail of the hotel’s design. The feeling is subtle, but undoubtedly noticeable. It’s in the colours and textures, in the ceramics from La Bisbal, in the books written by local writers laying on the raw wooden tables. Materials are pure, matching and blending with the views of the surrounding scenery.
A hotel is no longer meant to be formal. Multi-purpose yet undefined spaces are meant to help guests feel at home and encourage them to make free use of these shared areas, be it to have a drink, to have a bite to eat, or simply read a newspaper by the window. Guests are free to decide how, when and where they discover their temporary home, similar to the experience of travelling through a yet to be explored land. Golf is the leitmotiv of this hotel in L’Empordà. It offers an experience of wellbeing, a place to unwind, relax and connect to nature.
