Hotel Amarin

Hotel Amarin sits in a thick pine forest, at the eastern edge of the Monsena-Valdaliso“ tourist zone. From its peninsula, it looks out and curves toward Rovinj, Venice, distant seas horizons and the tiny island of Figarola. The hotel has one movie theater, two beaches, three indoor pools, three hot tubs, four outdoor pools, four apartment suites, four saunas, five outdoor playscapes, five wellness rooms, six eateries and cafes, ten thematic indoor points for kids, and two hundred and seventy-six double bedrooms. It welcomes families, wanderers and play, awakening and drawing them to belong to its large, intermingling territory on the seaside.

Photography by © Robert Leš

How to create a large hotel in which many diverse spaces feel integral and familiar? In which, instead of consumption, people participate in leisure, and the experience of the family vacation is intense and remembered. Private and public spaces are separated into two stacked groups. Public spaces are ground level, while the rooms hover in the air. The public sphere has a vibrant character, the private sphere is contemplative. The spaces between these two spheres are curving tunnels, ramps in the air, a winding, levitating path, a fragmented staircase, a lobby with a reflecting garden and bar, a Mikado-like reception, and a Mediterranean blue net playscape. All of the public spaces are in direct contact with the terrain and its outdoor amenities, which are organized in informal ways and irregular forms, respecting program demands. The character of the public sphere is dynamic, full of unexpected collisions, frames, games of perception and existing suggestive structures that sprout out from the ground. Rooms grow their own landscapes. It’s busy down here and curiosity is rewarded as each wing reveals itself like pages of a pop-up book. Outdoor spaces create colorful scenes with many activities happening simultaneously.

Photography by © Robert Leš

New geometries, hypnotic landscaping, and environmental graphics appear. It’s about motion too – dots flicker on roads, mirrors, and in planting arrangements. Corridors escape outdoors, leading you with them, while they become paths carving out continents of flowers, hills, and playgrounds. The outside appearance of the ground floor is characterized by a continuous reflective elevation, fragmenting the reflections of the forest, creating a kaleidoscopic effect and additionally widening the panorama of the large affiliated landscape. Playful elements on the wall inspire imagination and whiteness lets you think. This private, levitating object follows the shoreline with its organic shape and secures distant views towards the open sea and forest. The dynamic sequence of spatial and atmospheric excerpts activates children and parents in exploring intriguing games of perception, relationships between the whole and its parts, shapes, proportions, materials, light, shadow, scent and reflections.

Amarin: a camper for 1000 people. Jagged underneath, airy up above. Taking you up its winding ramps, or dropping you off below in a land of caves. White meets red earth, looking out and looking in, a series of dots, lines and curves smiling at a pine forest, and intruder but also a friend. From inside, take a walk through the forest outside – see things from the perspective of a bird, or a mouse.

Photography by © Robert Leš

Project Info
Architects: Studio up
Location: Rovinj, Croatia
Lead Architects: Lea Pelivan, Toma Plejić
Landscape Design: Ksenija Jurčić Diminić
Area: 27046.0 m2
Year: 2016
Type: HotelPhotographs: Robert Leš