The project is inspired by the beauty of the places, the presence of water, the “holistic” respect for environmental sustainability, the care of the body and the pleasure of proper nutrition.
The Grand Hotel is located in an exclusively pedestrian park by the river Sarca, characterized by a garden of native species and surrounded by wooded areas of great beauty. The project is inspired by the materials of the place: water, stone and wood, expressive mediums of the compositional solution.
The expansion project of the wellness center concerns the recovery of the basement spaces of the Grand Hotel Terme di Comano to accommodate a SPA and wellness area and relaxation spaces that complete the facilities of the hotel and spa and which allow the opening of the new wellness center also to external users.
The intervention “opens” the underground spaces, remodeling the ground towards the valley to allow a functional and visual connection with the park: the separation between inside and outside is dematerialized in a large window to emphasize the sense of continuity between inside, outdoor pools, solarium and park, to fully enjoy the natural light and landscape.
The center has declined, between indoor and outdoor spaces, a world made up of all the possible transformations of water to be discovered in an articulated but harmonious, sinuous path, following the gentle rhythm of the colors of nature.
The new entrance to the wellness center distributes on one side the adjoining dressing rooms for external users and on the other gives access to the wellness path: the existing wellness center is transformed to accommodate the family area, with spaces for children, a more lively and noisy and for this reason more confined area, and a private spa, a wellness area, privatizable in some situations, for private parties or nudism. In the enlargement the path follows the color variations of the walls. On the left side, dominated by the warm earth tones, the thematic areas linked to the heat are developed: fire room, sea room, sun room and oriental rooms, with tropical showers, emotional showers, hammam, rhassoul and massage area . On the right side, characterized by cold tones, you have the northern rooms with the Finnish sauna, the hay sauna and the snow cabin up to the water of the main pool and in addition to the relaxation areas dominated by light and dark respectively and from different sensory stimulations: in the light room, visual and acoustic stimulations prevail, tactile and olfactory stimulations in the dark.
For the pools a constructive solution in stainless steel was chosen, both because of the absence of maintenance and of the very long life cycle and because of its “neutrality”, giving the effect of the turquoise-green water as it appears in nature. In the passage in the water between the indoor and outdoor pools there is no interruption, so that the dialogue between the mirrors of hot water, the vapors and further the river Sarca is not interrupted.
The outdoor solarium, with the wooden deck and a relaxation area with fireplace, is bounded by the containment walls, mitigated by the creation of vertical technical green and which integrate access to external services and storage areas, connecting paths to the existing outdoor pool and the wide bar-restaurant terrace.
The project involves the organization of three intervention lots: the first two, completed, concerning the external areas with pools and the “en plein air” spaces, the internal pool and some relax areas, the third will concern specifically the wellness area.
2018-2019
ACTIVITY: Full architectural design and work site direction
CUSTOMER: Azienda Consorziale Terme di Comano (ACTC)
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN: Atelier2 – Arch. Valentina Gallotti – Milano with BianchettiArchitettura SA – Arch. Fabrizio Bianchetti – Omegna (VB)
MEP: Digierre 3 – Bergamo
SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT: Prof. Ing. Marco Imperadori
SUPERVISION OF WORKS: BianchettiArchitettura SA – Arch. Gabriele Medina with Ing. Stefano Rossi, Ing. Franco Zanca (Pools’ Engineering)
STAFF: L. Antinori, F. Brunone, M. Corbani, M. Cucuzza, R. Firino, V. Iovino, L. Sacchi, S. Scrollavezza, P. Trivini