Athens’ leading architect firm K-STUDIO came away a ‘Popular Choice Winner’ in the ‘Hotels and Resorts Category,’ at the prestigious 2020 Architizer Awards.
The Architizer A+Awards is the largest program focused on promoting and celebrating the world’s best architecture and products, with finalists and winners being recognised as the year’s most influential visionaries.
Dexamenes Seaside Hotel was a standout in architectural design this year, with the 2019 built property showcasing Greek trading history on the mainland’s western Peloponnese coast.
“The new design compliments their brutality with elegant interventions, and transforms their austere functionality into a place of calm, comfort, and relaxation,” says A+A.
Inside an abandoned wine factory set directly on the sea, the property offers guests an experience of sleeping inside old wine tanks from the 1920s, which have now been minimally retouched with steel, engineered glass, timber, and a clean-lined aesthetic.
Many of the wine tanks also feature a private patio under a canopy, while a bar-lounge, a taverna, a history room, and a boutique “Bakaliko” store selling local produce all bring the location to the forefront. Taking guests from this post-industrial concrete landscape to the sands of Kourouta beach is a wide promenade that seems to float above the sand.
Dominating the site are the two concrete blocks that are each divided lengthwise into two rows of ten wine-storage tanks. These tanks, measuring approximately 5m by 6m were perfectly sized to become hotel rooms, each with ensuite bathroom and shaded patio.
The space between the two blocks has been transformed from an industrial scrapyard into a peaceful, meditative courtyard garden and a shallow pool separates the two rows of rooms, reflecting light and providing a cool breeze on hot afternoons.
K-STUDIO currently has 55 architects and interior designers based in central Athens and their contextual approach enables them to produce unique and immersive experiences through architecture, hardscape design, and interior design.
You can view the full list of winners from the Architzer A+A Awards 2020 here.
Design Team: Dimitris Karampatakis, Marivenia Chiotopoulou, Giorgos Mitrogiorgis, Dimitris Sotiropoulos, Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Christina Stamouli, Thomai Christopoulou
Photography: Claus Brechenmacher and Reiner Baumann
