The Saint Hotel is located on the edge of the traditional village of Oia, at the top of the Caldera volcanic rocks, designed by Kapsimalis Architects. The hotel consists of a small reception, sixteen rooms, a restaurant, a common pool area, and a spa-gym. These spaces are articulated gradually on the six levels of the complex. The hotel entrance is on the upper level where the reception and an outdoor lounge area are located too.
Α central exterior staircase leads from the upper level to the level of the restaurant and the infinity pool area, connecting the intermediate three levels which comprise the hotel rooms and their private yards and pools. The lowest level includes a spa reception, a small gym, massage rooms, hammam, sauna booths, w/c, storage areas, and a private relaxation yard on the edge of the cliffs. The main objective of the proposal is a) the unalloyed restoration of the old existing buildings and b) the construction of the new cave hotel rooms and common spaces as a contemporary and distinct recasting of the cubistic morphology of the old settlement but at the same time as a discrete continuation of the caldera’s landscape terrain.
The form of the new cave hotel spaces retains the cave-house structure, the geometric shapes, the human scale, the materiality, and the white color of the traditional motif. However, their floor plan typology and openings rotate, framing the sea view. Respectively, their facades follow the crooked lines of the existing natural elevation curves, like folding retaining walls that gently fit into the surrounding environment.
The overlap of the above synthetic layers shapes the building’s final form and its intense dynamics. The interior design of the hotel follows an austere and minimal approach based on the Cycladic architecture norms. The existing caves’ interior space meets a ‘total white’ mood, with minimum touches of iridescent gold and green colors, while free built curves and free-standing amorphous furniture bring out and enhance its sculptural plasticity.