Greek firm, KLab Architecture, has designed a series of suites for Mykonos, one of the most popular summertime destinations (the island’s population rises from 10,000 to 50,000 seasonally). As is typical of KLab’s work (check out their Urban Cubes project previously featured), their hotel project looks to the vernacular language of island’s vocabulary and capitalizes on the environment’s relationship between the landscape and the sea, to formulate a modern interpretation of the cycladic architecture that has evolved over centuries.
More about the hotel room design after the break.
Built in 1990, the Andronikos Hotel is undergoing a total refurbishment and KLab is responsible for redesigned 13 rooms following the principles of purity, simplicity, fluidity and surprise. Conceived as a modern Mykonian room, the interior is a compact mass constructed of irregular unaligned walls that slanted inward. By attaching the furniture to the walls, Klab intended to provide the user with the impression that the building is erupting from the island’s rocky land.
The rooms’ illumination strategy involves creating a strong contrast between light and shadow to reveal the sculpting force of the space. The lighting is mostly hidden and is designed to create a sense of serenity and intimacy as light shines through the bamboo screens, or glows under the furniture.
The design is an adaptation of local building techniques and uses all local materials, and the architects were confined to a tight budget with the need to create an atmosphere of ultimate comfort and sophistication.
“Our effort was to create a sexy but pure, a vibrant but calm, a modern but classic room that would compose all these juxtapositions and paradoxes offering to the user an overwhelming experience,” explained the architects.
Employer: Andronikos Hotel
Plot Surface: 7000 m2
Building: 2500m2
Rooms: 57
Photographers: Nikos Vandoros, Akis Paraskevopoulos