DESIGN FREEDOM AND OPEN SPACE FOR A HOTEL WITH AN INNOVATIVE CONCEPT
The “das flax” is a new, conveniently situated hotel in Dietmannsried in the Allgäu region of Germany. The contemporary hotel concept is designed to appeal equally to tourists, business people and conference customers. The illumination of the outdoor areas with luminaires from WE-EF underlines the project’s campus-like character.
The name brings to mind flax cultivation, a crop that shaped the landscape of the Allgäu region in earlier centuries. Nestled in the green foothills of the German Alps, the hotel operators say that “das flax” follows the trend towards “bleisure travel”, where business meets leisure. Regionality and sustainability are not only reflected in the deliberately streamlined concept, but also in the architecture, and appeal to style-conscious travellers in the economy segment. To this end, the firm FG-Architektur from Sonthofen planned an ensemble with several buildings integrated in a campus-like topography. Light-coloured clinker façades serve as connecting elements and the hotel complex features a circular space at its centre.
Bollards as path lighting
Especially at night, the lighting transforms the hotel complex into an island with an urban feel in the midst of rural surroundings. The planners used WE-EF KTY234 bollards throughout to illuminate the paths and walkways with glare-free, efficient lighting that has large spacings between the luminaires. Special luminaires from the WE-EF range are used to emphasise specific outdoor features. For example, ETC120-GB inground luminaires highlight a solitary tree. Thanks to the gimbal suspension of these luminaires, they can be aligned and adjusted as the tree grows.
Inviting light accents
The clinker façades with the hotel logo on the access side is uniformly illuminated by linear ETV130 inground wallwashers. Finally, even the pole luminaires on the hotel driveway come from WE-EF – the striking design of the VFL530 luminaires on double arm poles fits well with the modern look of the architecture. With asymmetric forward throw wide beam [R65] light distribution, they provide pleasant, glare-free illumination of this area from a pole height of 4.5 metres. In addition, the planners’ decision to use LEDs in warm white (3000 Kelvin) everywhere harmonises extremely well with the welcoming atmosphere of the entire hotel complex.
Project data
Principal: Voralpenresort Besitz GmbH & Co. KG
Architecture: FG-Architektur, Sonthofen
Completion: 2020
www.dasflaxhotels.com
Photos: Frieder Blickle for WE-EF