HOTEL
Inspiration sea

The Grand Park Hotel Rovinj by Croatian studio 3LHD and realized in collaboration with the interior designers at Lissoni Casal Ribeiro has become a gesamtkunstwerk looking out over the Old Town and Adriatic.

by Jeanette Kunsmann | 1/25/2021

Elegance, luxury and style cannot simply be planned. Even if you have a generous budget, specifically when it comes to new hotel buildings it is all too easy to finish up with something that looks banal while aiming at authenticity. As the Maistra Collection specializes in premier tourism and its new luxury hotel aspires to appeal to an international audience, the Croatian hotel group commissioned two experienced teams of experts with outstanding reputations to create the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj. Established in 1994, the Zagreb-based architecture practice 3LHD is behind the design of the luxurious hotel world, while for the interior design concept it drew on the services of the Milan studio Piero Lissoni – Lissoni Casal Ribeiro. Thanks to the close cooperation between the various disciplines involved the architecture, interior and landscape have merged to form a truly integral ensemble.

The architects and interior designers found their inspiration in the place itself. Rovinj’s location on the rugged Mediterranean coast unites a panorama of Baroque Old Town and turquoise-blue Adriatic sea; guests have an uninterrupted view of the ocean from their rooms. Part of the largest peninsula on the northern Adriatic, the fishing town of Rovinj is just 100 kilometers south of Trieste and Italy is also very close to this part of Croatia – separated only by the Adriatic. This makes Venice popular amongst guests as a destination for short trips. Aside from the geographical connections there are also cultural links that result from the town’s chequered history. While the fishing port once spent 400 years under Venetian rule and then 100 years under Austrian rule, after 1919 Istria was first returned to Italy and not until after 1945 to Yugoslavia, and subsequently to the Republic of Croatia. "We discovered many parallels in Rovinj," reports Milan interior designer Fabrizia Bazzana. In effect there are many similarities between the Italian and Croatian way of life.

This cultural mingling that comes from the different layers of history, not to mention limestone cliffs covered in pine forests and the constantly bright blue of the ocean all played a decisive role for the interior concept: The purist coastal landscape serves as an impressive backdrop against which to install the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj as a subtle piece of scenery. And indeed, thanks to their minimalist appearance sometimes the interiors have the feel of abstract installations, other times they seem to reinforce their setting. Intended as a key feature the long reception counter is destined to be as visible as it is low-key. The Lissoni team took up the pure volume of this striking object by adding a reflecting aluminum surface.

Earthy tones and colors feature in the rooms as a contrast with the color of the sea, while the interior corridors and hallways are in dark blue making them stand out from the light hotel rooms. Moreover, the water surfaces of the pools and windows reflect images from the landscape back into the building’s interior. "The biggest challenge in this project was its sheer dimensions," says Fabrizia Bazzana, who as associate at Lissoni was responsible for the design concept of all interiors. The six floors accommodate a total of 193 rooms and 16 suites that are up to 173 square meters in size. Then on the fifth floor there is the spacious spa and wellness zone that covers some 3,800 square meters and boasts three different pool areas and a fitness studio, not to mention the two restaurants on the fourth and fifth floor. The Lungomare Plaza shopping promenade is located on the ground floor.

Small, greened atriums and greenery produce a pleasant Mediterranean atmosphere in the spa where natural surfaces and wood predominate. Every material used, every element employed, and every item of furniture was carefully chosen under the supervision of Ilia D’Emilio. A well-curated selection of high-quality designer furniture by B&B, Cappellini, Carl Hansen, DePadova, Fantini, Flos, Kartell, Knoll, Living Divani and Vitra, among others, is combined with customized furniture especially commissioned for the project and created by Lissoni, such as the counter or the spa landscape. For the latter the designers were inspired by the modular sofa Extrasoft for Living Divani creating a similarly shaped landscape of stone. Even though the interior spaces constitute many different worlds with an array of varying aspects they nevertheless relate a common story – an achievement that can be attributed to the sensitive approach of Ilia D’Emilio and the interior design team who developed a customized interior mix for the entire hotel.

In many regards the Grand Park Hotel Rovinj was a dream project for Piero Lissoni. Aside from the wonderful location the designers enjoyed collaborated closely with the architects of 3LHD and were granted a large amount of scope: Ilia D’Emilio and Fabrizia Bazzana were able to realize all their ideas here and even persuade 3LHD to make a few changes to the layout such as connecting the indoor and outdoor pool. "In the end we got exactly what we wanted."