The ski season is fast approaching, and hotels in mountain resorts will soon be bursting at the seams. The aesthetic experience caused by communing with the natural landscape is often ruined by encounters with the architecture of tourist destinations. The times of projects such as the Pyramids in Ustroń or the Granit Hotel in Szklarska Poreba are irretrievably gone, their place taken by molochs dominating the landscape, such as the Mercure Szczyrk Resort or Crystal Mountain in Wisla. Will the new hotel to be built in Brenna break out of this trend?
The Beating Heart of Brenna - This is the name of the new investment, whose construction has been announced in recent days by the local company Tomex. On the plot of land it owns, until recently there stood a few wooden summer houses, whose rooms were rented out to winter sports enthusiasts. A new facility on a much larger scale, however, is set to transform the immediate area.
The beating heart of Brenna
© Archas Design
a village of Celtic origin
Brenna is a sizable village located in the Silesian Voivodeship, located a dozen or so kilometers from the borders of Bielsko-Biala. Although some linguists find the etymological origins of its name in the Celtic language, the tangible history of Brenna begins at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, when the Duke of Cieszyn established a glassworks in the village. In the late 16th century, Wallachian highlanders settled on the slopes of the Silesian Beskid, within which Brenna is located. They mainly grazed goats and sheep, providing wool and dairy products for the local community. On the mountain slopes they built huts with steep, gabled roofs. It was their forms that were to become the inspiration for the new building designed by the Bielsko-based Archas Design studio.
The inspiration came from ancient shepherd's huts erected for shelter in the higher parts of the mountains. Hence the simple form, the protruding - like in shepherd's huts - roof eaves, ornaments on the gable walls, and the blackened wood facade, so characteristic of the architecture of the area.
- says architect Katarzyna Biernat-Odrzywołek of Archas Design, who is leading the project.
The beating heart of Brenna
© Archas Design
two in one
The visualizations presented by the investor show a building consisting of two, extremely different segments. The first one refers to the aforementioned highland cottages in a rather casual way, but does not find. A steep roof here covers a rectangular block with five above-ground stories. The façade features balconies supported by pillars running from the base to the building's canopy. On the other side of the complex will be the utility section, which is located in a three-story building with more "austere" forms.
The beating heart of Brenna
© Archas Design
the mountain from which the hotel grows
Each of the floors here presents itself a bit differently - above the glazed first floor is an overhanging heavy mass with facades finished in godul sandstone, a material mined in a nearby quarry. In turn, a small pavilion with a ski bar is located on top of the building. From the pavilion one will be able to access the green roof, seamlessly transitioning into the slope of the hill at the foot of which the hotel will be built. The two blocks are communicated with each other by a two-story connector with a glazed first floor and a floor hidden behind blackened fins.
The investor announces many attractions and amenities - in addition to accommodation for 180 people, there will also be a spa, bar, bowling alley and bicycle repair station. Inside the building there will also be an atrium with a Japanese garden or a play zone designed for children.
The beating heart of Brenna
© Archas Design
doomed to mountain huts
The presented concept raises several questions, both about the functioning of the building and the broader context of the creation of this kind of investment. The idea of integrating the building with the slope of Stary Groń seems to be an interesting attempt to make the new architecture less invasive in the natural landscape. The technical aspects are questionable - how will the green space on the roof cope with water flowing down the slope during snowmelt and summer downpours? Have the natural conditions that characterize the area been taken into account? But most of all - is modern resort architecture doomed to low quality, repetitiveness and trite references to " mountain lodge"? Do the emerging hotels have to overwhelm the natural landscape with their dimensions and form?
View of Brenna from Stary Groń
Photo: Adrian Tync © Wikimedia Commons CC BY SA 4.0
can it be done differently?
Although Polish realizations are not alone in this trend, abroad one can find examples that seem to present a much more unconventional and conscious approach to building in mountain towns. Leading the way here are primarily buildings being built in Scandinavian countries, although interesting projects can also be found in Iran (Barin Ski Resort near Tehran, design: RYRA Studio), China (Yabuli Entrepreneurs Congress Center, design: MAD Architects) or New Zealand (The Lindis, design: Architecture Workshop). These facilities meld with the landscape in a much more organic way, while not necessarily through the use of "organic forms," in the colloquial sense of the word. Considering how valuable the natural and scenic surroundings are for such structures, it is worth considering their aesthetics, which can both disfigure and enrich natural skylines for years to come.
