Apfelhotel

Apfelhotel: In full bloom For the expansion of the Applehotel, 18 new suites were built for guests and carefully designed to fit into the farmyard’s landscape structure while complementing the rural surroundings. A special emphasis was placed on preserving the characteristic of the farmhouse ensemble and maintaining its scale. OVERFLOWING LOVE OF LIFE The newly opened wellness facility has no Northside facade, instead, it blends into a natural green slope so that the building can hardly be seen. The entrance to the new spa is a curved semi-exposed concrete shell that tucks into the landscape and is designed with a stunning portal made from old wood. Here, in the interface between the surface and subsurface, the word immersion takes on a meaning of its own. The Southside of the wellness area, on the other hand, opens up with a glass and steel facade that vanishes underneath a blanket of rooftop greenery. The indoor-outdoor pool stretches out to the outdoors through the overgrown green façade and is partially framed with Lucerne metamorphic gneiss rock. The framing dissolves where the water edge meets the surrounding open space to visually connect with the landscape in an infinity edge. FLOWERING PLACES The new garden suites were constructed on the hotel’s East-facing side: three independent buildings with a total of 18 guest rooms across three floors. The saddle roofs absorb the architectural language of their surroundings and the façade blends tradition with modern aesthetics. The buildings’ outer shell has been deliberately kept dark in an ode to the traditional character of a barn house. Meanwhile, a wooden rhombus pattern - created as a transformation of classic wooden struts - gives the three buildings an unmistakably modern flair. The suites on the ground floor blend into the topography. The entrance and adjacent bathroom are followed by a living and sleeping area which connects out onto the front terrace. On the ground and the first floor, there are four spacious guest rooms and two outer laying suites, which have a separate sleeping corner for children to play and sleep in. In the suites, the large windows offer a panoramic view of the idyllic landscape, and the feeling of living in and enjoying your own home. The attic gables are perfectly utilized to accommodate a sleeping gallery. An internal staircase leads from the suites up to the galleries, where step-shaped furniture also offers storage space. APPETITE FOR MORE The hotel’s restaurant has expanded to include pavilions that roll out onto the garden. Two areas were created: closed, heated canopies, followed by open canopies with shading options grouped in clusters around a piazza of sorts. The grey-brown aluminium of the canopies is designed to harmonise with the warm grey floor tiles while contrasting with the main building’s plaster and wood. The concept of the restaurant’s expansion design centres around the principle of three rooms or “cubes” with differing heights. The inner decor is based on the theme and mood of a modern winter garden.