-
Architects: LEA Invent
Text description provided by the architects. The Goldenkey Chalet, at an altitude of 2000 metres, is a 41-room hotel situated at the ski resort of Kartalkaya in Turkey. The hotel has two restaurants, a café, lobby, children’s playroom, lounges, SPA and ski room.
Alpine architecture predominates in the region, so the project was designed as a modern interpretation of the classic alpine house and chalet typologies. The building consists of three wings set around an inner garden, and positioned so as to take maximum advantage of daylight and the view of the Köroğlu mountains. Every room has been placed with a different approach to its relationship with the vista in mind.
The changing relationship between interior and exterior, varying according to the different movements of the person inside the room, gave rise to a playful exterior façade. As well as 33 sqm standard rooms, the hotel includes 40 sqm two storey suites designed in the loft style, generously proportioned family suites, and a 70 sqm two storey loft with a private jacuzzi commanding a view. By positioning the rooms with respect to the view and the different window forms, visitors are made to feel as if they were staying in a different room every time they come. Transitions and visual links between the public spaces have been designed for continuity, and corridor formations have been avoided.
The tourism sector has been changing and developing rapidly over recent years in particular. The hotel has been designed as a boutique hotel, allowing for possible future changes to ensure that the structure has the capacity for self-renewal. In addition, three considerations meant that the building technique was of crucial importance: the fact that this is an area of first degree earthquake risk, the need for a short construction period due to weather conditions, and a restricted budget.
Taking the load-bearing system as the starting point for designing buildings has been one of the key aspects of modern architecture since Auguste Perret. The building has been awarded the Best Prefabricated Concrete Building Prize for the 2006-2008 construction period in Turkey. The emphasis is on natural materials in the interior spaces, with slate, oak floorboards and wooden panelling lending warmth to every part of the hotel. On the other hand the raw concrete and metal load-bearing elements have been left bare so that the hotel’s architecture and interior design share a complete conceptual coherence.
