Spaces built to engage with nature can positively impact mental and physical wellbeing, creating authentic experiences. We rounded up four hospitality spaces that don’t just get close to – but emerge from – their natural landscapes, forging meaningful connections between guests and their surroundings.

Spaces in harmony with landscapes allow guests to become one with nature

Architect Junya Ishigami’s client sought a space embodying the roughness and timeless endurance of nature, one to serve as a restaurant and family residence alike. A mass was dug deep into the ground, concrete was poured in, and a volume was excavated to give way to the cavernous space. Tempered glass was then installed to create the parameters of the interiors – the home is positioned in the north and the restaurant in the south, navigable through three courtyards. By thinking outside – rather, below – the box and pushing the limit of architectural technologies, Ishigami managed to carve out a space that proposes new means of designing with nature. At the same time, it challenges our typical notions of long-lasting architecture, offering a fresh perspective that at once feels ancestral and forward-thinking in its end form. 

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Design that extends from its surroundings creates hyperlocal hospitality experiences

Homa is a small boutique hotel in Vagia, Serifos Island, which has a history of iron ore mining. The hotel was designed by Mold Architects and built into the footprint of a former mine site. The volume is constructed into the side of the sloping terrain, its structure comprising two main platforms. The 180 sq-m building has three independent lodgings, each with two bedrooms and a small living area, distributed across the two platforms. The use of materials endemic to the area, the commissioning of local artists and designers and the incorporation of regional history are all ways hospitality spaces align with demands for original experiences. The architect found a new purpose for what was likely once an eyesore; voids carved out from the sides of rolling hills were repurposed to create a space which does not allude to the story of its greater surroundings but forges a closer connection between the place and its guests.

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Using the landscape as a starting point for design makes for places with real narrative

To align itself with the growing culture of wine tourism in the Czech Republic, a new hospitality and operations space was built at the Gurdau Winery in Kurdějov. Studio Aleš Fiala designed the 1,141-sq-m space, located at the centre of the vineyard in the historic wine-making region. The building emerges from the open countryside, blending into its surroundings. The curving roof emerges from the ground and is planted with 150 shrubs and mature trees, mirroring its surrounding terrain. The design places visitors in a setting like the dark and cool – often underground – spaces where wine is fermented and stored. It leans into these aspects core to the production processes while still ensuring an environment suited to a convivial luxury hospitality experience. The strong connection to its locality asserts the space as its own, bridging it with its Czech heritage instead of posing as a space transplanted from wine regions in Italy or France.

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Architecture can influence wellbeing-driven nature experiences

Formafatal designed two rammed-earth villas that sit atop a jungle-overgrown hill in Costa Rica. Located 12 m apart from each other nearby the seaside town of Uvita, the short-stay rentals provide sweeping views over the Pacific Ocean. They are primarily built of clay soil sourced from the excavations. A common thread uniting biophilic spaces is that they generate a deeper connection with nature. And while true biophilia goes far beyond colour and material, the two tools are crucial for activating one’s senses. The rammed-earth construction, energy-oriented colour schemes and open sightlines indicate an earthly sensitivity. Expressed in building, that quality makes it impossible for inhabitants – however temporary – to not engage with their surroundings.

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