Openair Suites - Hospitality Architecture in Italy
Honorable Mention & Top 10 Finalist | Terraviva International Architecture Competition
The proposal is structured around three complementary principles—Openness, Awareness and Togetherness—translated into architectural qualities operating across every scale of the project.
Openness governs the relationship between enclosure and landscape through fluid spatial boundaries and visual continuity. Awareness is expressed through orientation, light, materiality and sensory perception, establishing a continuous dialogue with the surrounding environment. Togetherness interprets hospitality as coexistence between architecture, nature and human occupation.
The suites are conceived as elevated monolithic prisms emerging from dense Mediterranean Vegetation, with their dark metal shell recalling scattered rock formations embedded within the landscape. In contrast, the interiors unfold as warm timber environments defined by continuity and fluidity. Arranged along a tree-like network of pathways, the modules rotate thirty degrees relative to one another, balancing openness with privacy while preserving unobstructed views. The landscape between them remains continuous, allowing architecture and vegetation to coexist as a single spatial system.
Each suite is conceived as a prefabricated modular timber interior enclosed within a weathering steel shell and protected by a secondary permeable metal frame that extends the architectural envelope into the landscape. The geometry is defined by two solid and two transparent elevations. While the opaque façades provide enclosure, the glazed sides dissolve the threshold between interior and exterior, allowing the surrounding landscape to become part of everyday habitation. A permeable secondary steel frame, functions as an extension of the architectural envelope. Varying densities of the frame filter light, frame views and gradually mediate the transition between architecture and landscape, while revealing the sky. After sunset, the softly illuminated interiors transform the modules into luminous objects dispersed among the vegetation.
Architecture is developed as a continuous system in which spatial planning, furniture, lighting and construction are conceived simultaneously. The interior follows an open-plan organization structured around the primary view axis and extends outward through full-height folding glazing. Curved timber surfaces, integrated lighting, custom detailing, bespoke joinery and carefully selected natural materials define a seamless spatial identity. A restrained palette of natural pine wood, blackened metal, handcrafted brass accents and reeded glass is combined with integrated indirect lighting and soft, sculptural geometries.
The outdoor platform extends the living space and operates as an integral part of the architectural composition, accommodating daily activities, rest and contemplation. Interior and exterior are conceived as a single inhabited field where movement, perception and atmosphere unfold continuously. The project proposes a model of hospitality in which architecture is experienced as a continuous relationship between enclosure, landscape, light and human occupation.
