Planted terraces overlook the sea at the Grand Park Hotel by 3LHD

The Grand Park Hotel in Rovinj, Croatia, is topped with a series of planted terraces that step down towards the Adriatic Sea.

Designed by local practice 3LHD, with interiors by Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni, the hotel has been designed to step down from the town centre to the seafront while having a minimal impact on the natural landscape.

The hotel is the "final touch" in the wider redevelopment of the area, which has seen 3LHD design several other hotels as well as a concrete promenade that runs alongside the hotel.

"No matter where they are in the hotel, the guest gets the impression they are staying in a park overlooking Rovinj, St Euphemia, the island of St Catherine and the most beautiful sea sunset," said the practice.

Seeking to "blend into the existing forest", space has been made for five pine trees that have been growing on the site for decades and now occupy a prominent position on the hotel's first floor terrace.

Split into three areas, the hotel rooms occupy the first three floors of the structure, with the fourth floor containing a conference area and a "wellness terrace", which extends to an indoor and outdoor pool on the top floor.

The interior spaces on each floor plate are set-back, allowing for a large planted area that wraps around the rooms at each level to give the impression of being surrounded by greenery that extends into the horizon.

The ground floor has a cafe, bar, restaurant and concept store, overlooking the promenade through a glazed facade, and in the lobby a triple-height light-well draws in natural light.

The interiors by Piero Lissoni use earthy tones to contrast the blue of the sea and sky, and terraces have been given wooden decking.

Wood lines the conference space, which overlook the sea through a vast window, and the rooftop pool is encased in a glass pavilion with a glass sliding door that can be raised to allow guests to swim outside.

"Public spaces are characterised by a multitude of details, a large number of types and specific pieces of furniture that, despite mutual diversity, make a unique story together," said the studio.

3LHD was founded in 1994 by Saša Begović, Marko Dabrović, Tanja Grozdanić Begović and Silvije Novac. Previous projects by the practice include the conversion of a cinema in Zagreb into a dance centre, and a large cultural and sports centre in Zamet.

Photography is by Jure Zivkovic.

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Restored plasterwork and paintings adorn Aires Mateus' self-designed studio

Ornate paintings and decorative stucco ceilings appear inside the self-designed studio of architecture practice Aires Mateus, which occupies an 18th-century building in Lisbon, Portugal.

Aires Mateus' four-storey studio, which has been named Atelier Cecílio de Sousa after the street it's located on, contains working and meeting spaces, two model-making areas and a multipurpose room.

Existing decorative features throughout the 18th-century building have been restored, while the damaged roof structure has been entirely rebuilt.

The historic building comprises a two-storey building that was originally built in 1779 and two additional storeys added 20 years later. The four levels were in varying need of renovation work.

Rooms up to the third floor required superficial touches of restoration, like fresh coats of paint and replacing rotting timber floorboards with solid planks of wood.

However, on the third level, part of the floor that was caving inwards and affecting painted ceiling panels below was replaced. The building's disintegrated roof was also rebuilt.

"Throughout the whole intervention, the goal was to keep the integrity of the existing building, as well as its spatial, constructive and formal characteristics," Cassandra Carvas, architect at Aires Mateus, told Dezeen.

Several other features have been retained, including the framework, stonework, coatings, friezes, shutters, cornices and balustrades on the facades.

Two meeting rooms and two areas for models are dotted across the building's four levels, while the remaining space is dedicated to workstations.

The focal point of the building is the second-floor meeting area called the Noble Room, which has elaborate decorative details that were retained .

Specialised restoration work was required on the tiling found in the room's skirtings, wainscoting and framing panels, as well as the stucco and painted elements on the ceiling.

Wooden frame chairs are arranged around a pale timber table at the centre of the room.

The room has been given a balanced and symmetrical layout so that furnishings sit in line with the paintings in stucco oval frames. Above, a large ceiling mural depicts an idealistic scene of figures on horseback and cherubs surrounding them.

An all-white curved staircase connects the third and fourth floor. With windows on the north facade, a large room is used as a multipurpose space, where the studio holds workshops and lectures.

Storage and technical spaces are placed on the ground floor, alongside a parking area.

Several small, shed-like structures from previous renovation projects were removed from the office's double-height courtyard. This space has been turned into a garden with a water mirror.

The lavish interior of this office is a far cry from the often minimal and monolithic work by the studio, which was founded by brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus.

A deep, gabled opening marks the entrance of a faculty building the studio created in Belgium, whereas irregular voids punch through the facade of a community centre it completed in Grândola.

Photography is by Rui Cardoso.

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Project credits:

Project leader: Inês Cordovil
Collaborators: Ana Rita Rosa, Teresa M Marques, Catharina Mark, Olga Sanina, Inês Potes, Luz Jiménez, David Carceller, Inês Gulbenkian
Interior design project leader: Maria Rebelo Pinto
Interior design collaborator: António Sardo
Engineering: AFA consult
Constructor: Manuel Mateus Frazão
Landscaping: F|C Arquitectura

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Explore contemporary architecture in Beijing's hutongs on our new Pinterest board

Our latest Pinterest board features innovative architecture in Beijing's historic hutongs, including radical transformations of traditional courtyard houses such as this one by Chinese architect MAD. Follow Dezeen on Pinterest or visit our hutongs board to see more examples.

Once common in Beijing and other northern Chinese cities, hutongs are narrow streets or alleys formed by rows of single-storey houses arranged around courtyards. This distinctive urban form dates back hundreds of years but many were demolished in the twentieth century.

More recently there have been efforts to preserve the remaining hutongs, and many architects have renovated and redesigned the courtyard houses found in them.

Examples published on Dezeen include a former house transformed into a specialist fan shop and a traditional courtyard house with grey-brick paving that undulates between exterior to interior spaces.

Read more stories about hutong architecture in Dezeen's tag or explore contemporary Chinese architecture on our Pinterest board.

Dezeen's Pinterest account features thousands of images, organised into hundreds of boards. To explore them, open the Pinterest app on your phone, tap the camera icon and scan the Pincode below.

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Studio Sain uses traditional hand-turning process to create products incorporating wooden ball joints

Studio Sain worked with one of Austria's last remaining woodturners to develop this collection of hand-turned wooden products that feature moving parts or modular components.

Designers Martijn Rigters and Namuun Zimmermann, who began working together as Studio Sain in 2018, developed the Bulbous project as part of Vienna Design Week's Passionswege 2019 programme, which pairs design studios with local craftsmen.

Studio Sain was invited to collaborate with Viennese woodturner Hermann Viehauser on a collection of products that highlight the contemporary potential of this traditional craft.

The project allowed the designers to learn about and celebrate the hand-turning process, which they claimed is steadily being replaced by faster, automated manufacturing methods.

"With Hermann Viehauser being one of the last woodturners in Vienna, it is clear this craft is slowly disappearing – probably because of the typical cliche of being time consuming and costly," Rigters and Zimmermann told Dezeen.

"We wanted to embrace the incredible high level of precision of the handmade pieces, and to end this collaboration with a collection of unconventional pieces."

The Bulbous collection comprises a movable light, mirror and modular shelving system made from linden wood that was chosen for its softness and light colour.

Rather than being purely decorative, the products highlight the functional potential of hand-turned forms.

"We decided to approach woodturning as a form of joinery, with movable, seamlessly fitting components," the designers added. "We were hoping to find an interesting approach to this ancient craft by creating these more mechanical, functional objects."

The smooth, rounded forms of the objects were inspired by the curvaceous features of a paleolithic sculpture known as the Venus of Willendorf, which was discovered in 1908 near the Lower Austrian town of Krems.

The forms also contribute to each product's specific function, with the mirror and desk light featuring ball joints based on joints found in the human body.

The angle of the wall-mounted mirror can be changed by rotating the top section over its spherical base, while the position of the desk lamp's bubble-like glass diffuser can be adjusted thanks to a ball joint that mimics the human knee.

The hanging light's familiar lathe-turned profile creates ridges that hold the cord used to suspend it from the ceiling in place. The form can be repeated to create longer lights if required.

The wall-mounted shelves are made from two turned spheres that are quartered to produce four sets of shelves. These can be used individually or combined modularly to form longer compositions.

The products were presented at Viehauser's workshop during the Passionswege event, which took place from 27 September  to 5 October 2019.

The choice of location meant that visitors were able to witness the tools and processes used to make the products, as well as the project's final outcomes.

Studio Sain has continued to develop the objects so they can be produced in small numbers. They can also be adapted for special commissions.

Rigters and Zimmermann met while studying at the Royal College of Art and established Studio Sain after moving from London to Vienna.

Their multidisciplinary practice combines conceptual thinking with material research and experimental processes in order to create outcomes that are original in their aesthetics and functionality.

Rigters' previous projects include a rippled sofa made by forcing a block of foam between hot wires, and a group of aluminium stools patterned with human hair, which he developed in collaboration with Fabio Henry.

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Bathhouse spa with sensory deprivation tank opens in old Williamsburg soda factory

A 1930s soda factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has been transformed into bathhouse with a subterranean spa influenced by Scandinavian saunas, Russian banyas and Turkish hammams.

Founders Jason Goodman and Travis Talmadge collaborated with Manhattan firm Verona Carpenter Architects to reinvigorate the space to be a unique venue for social bathing called Bathhouse.

The 600-square-metre underground spa is lined with original brickwork and geometric matte-black tiles. A custom aqua and white tile mural by illustrator Amit Greenberg displays an Ancient Roman-inspired bathing scene as a focal point on the back wall.

Among the globally influenced therapies are two red cedar saunas: one "tropical" with more humidity and the other with less moisture that is more typically Finnish-style.

There is also a steam room, a trio of thermal pools – including a traditionally Russian cold plunge – and multiple heated marble slabs adapted from a Turkish hammam.

The pools are surrounded by 10 private treatment rooms with original vaulted ceilings.

Programming incorporates ancient wellness rituals and modern recovery techniques developed by sports professionals, such as athletic massages, stretching, head-to-toe scrubs and cryotherapy.

The spa also has a sensory deprivation chamber with an isolation tank designed by Float Labs, which is saturated with Epsom salts to create a feeling of weightlessness.

"Float Labs makes the only tanks that are UL-certified (a global safety certification), and ours is the only one on the East Coast," Goodman added.

In the women's locker area is a "ritual room" with a single cast iron bathtub that sits underneath a preserved 30-metre-tall brick smokestack that's been illuminated.

Bathhouse's facilities also include a restaurant. Two separate street-level entrances were created to access the two, but the interior space is free flowing.

"The original entrance had a ladder leading straight down to the basement level," Goodman told Dezeen. "There was no real ceiling because of the height of the smokestacks, so we had to construct an entirely new ground floor."

A handmade cement-tiled desk sits in the spa's reception, leading into a custom concrete walkway flanked by plant-filled infinity mirrored boxes.

New York restaurateur Akiva Elstein designed Bathhouse's street-level eatery with waxed canvas banquettes, pine wood accents and industrial ironwork.

"Our guests can just put on a robe after enjoying the baths and head up to the restaurant for a seasonal meal," said Goodman. "It's all meant to be a very social experience."

Bathhouse joins a number of contemporary facilities tapping into the benefits of the communal bathing culture, as explored in a 2016 exhibition curated by Jane Withers. Examples include Peter Zumthor's Therme Vals in Switzerland and a sauna in Gothenburg, Sweden, designed by Raumlabor.

Photography is by Adrian Gaut.

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