Termalija Family Wellness

Termalija Family Wellness is the latest in a series of projects that we built at Terme Olimia in the last fifteen years and concludes the complete transformation of a complex from the classic health centre built in the 1980s to a modern relaxing thermal spa. The basic characteristic of the transformation was that each step was carried out gradually in response to current needs and did not follow any preconceived development plan. In fact, for every new object, both the investor and we believed that it is the last. The usual development of such complexes results in a series of extensions that slowly fill the space and do not hide their time and design origin. Unlike this type of approach, in the renovation of Terme Olimia, with every new object, we also tried to improve the situation in an urban plan, while at the same time we put a lot of effort into the fact that, despite the new added program every time, we design objects in such a way that they do not actually fill the space, but they connect it even more with the nature that surrounds them. The same applies to the Termalija Family Wellness. The new facility is located at the site of the former winter covering of the outdoor pool, which should be withdrawn every summer in the shortage of outdoor space, but this has never happened because of the complexity of the process. With its size and shape, the membrane covering of the outer water surfaces strongly stood out from the surrounding structure. If the previous projects were the result of the investor´s wishes, this one was actually our proposal. The existing winter covering was severely spoiling the experience of the guests, of this otherwise very naturally built complex. Of course, this was not the only reason. In program and design, the old part with its thermal content strongly deviated from the new, which gradually led to more and more complaints from guests who wanted the service on the same level. This convinced the investor to get started with this last step of transforming the entire complex. For every previous project, we were placing new buildings under the surrounding terrain to a greater extent and diminishing their presence on site, but in this case we could not simply repeat this kind of approach. The volume of the necessary space, especially in the area with water surfaces, required the installation of a much larger object, which could not be simply buried below the level of the terrain. Since we were no longer able to refer only to the surrounding natural landscape, the solution was found in the scale and form of the surrounding autochthonous structure. If we were able to design the Termalija supporting program in the same way as Orhidelija before it, we divided a large roof above the water part into a set of smaller segments, so that it would not significantly deviate from the environment in scale. Viewed from a distance, a new clustered structure of tetrahedral volumes, in shape, colour and scale, continues a clustered surrounding rural buildings, that simply visually extends into the heart of the complex. The resulting tiny structure of volumes has consequently enabled us to solve another important task. At first glance, the complex geometry brought the new roof static strength and allowed us to cover the entire pool space practically without support. The new roof thus floats above the pool platform, which is designed as an outer space. Due to the lack of outdoor spaces in the summer, it was necessary to think about a solution that would also allow the guests to use the same closed space that they use in winter as an open space in the summer. A number of light shafts in the roof, together with the full opening of all facade glass surfaces, enable guests to seamlessly pass through the interior of the building. Despite its size and the space it occupies, the new roof in summer only acts as a big sunshade and does not take out the necessary outer space.