Hotel Savoy

Located on the Adriatic coast between Trieste and Venice, the small town of Grado lies on the peninsular forming the eastern banks of the Marano Lagoon – a vast wetland protected from the sea by a series of sandy islets. The town itself is bordered to the south by the sea and to the north by the lagoon via a network of canals.

An ancient Roman stronghold linked to nearby Aquileia, Grado has for decades been predominantly a seaside resort given its proximity to the sea and Venice. Of the numerous hotels and guest houses, Hotel Savoy – sited along one of the main canals and access roads into the town, and recently awarded five-star status – is one of the oldest, first opened in 1968.

To celebrate this further achievement of a hotel that has always moved with the times during its 50+ years of existence, Plasma Studio were commissioned to reimagine its street-side façade. During the 1980s, the balconies of the street-facing bedrooms had been closed with prefabricated concrete panels to create more spacious interiors, an intervention which, however, gave the hotel a stolid, somewhat austere appearance. However, rather than replace the existing main façade, it was decided to add a new outer skin to signal the hotel’s forward-looking vision but at the same time acknowledge its history.

The new, ineffably light, ecologically-intelligent façade design commands an urban presence that works on several levels. Not only a technical and functional means of extending the bedrooms outward with the creation of new balconies, the new elevation redefines the whole building’s relationship with its context, transforming the once closed frontage into a vibrant green interface between the hotel interiors and its urban setting. Far from negating or countering the existing structure, the new project rises out of it, giving it new significance. The add-on exploits the linearity of the former façade to...

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