Oppenheim Architecture

Lago Maggiore Retreat

Lago Maggiore Retreat

Lago Maggiore Retreat

Oppenheim Architecture

AREA
100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

STATUS
Concept

BUDGET
Undisclosed

LOCATION
Ticino,Switzerland

CATEGORY
Hospitality + Sport › Hotel Wellness/Spa, Landscape + Planning › Masterplan

Traditional alpine villages in Ticino epitomize harmony with nature.

Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat

Their intricate lanes and structures navigate the precipitous terrain with sincerity and logic.

When designing a new resort above Lago Maggiore, we studied, distilled, and evolved this language and spirit to create a sympathetic and timeless response.

Building controls are strictly regulated, requiring a genuine understating of scale, detail, and materiality to gain council approval.

Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat

The brief also required an economically and ecologically sustainable outcome, while creating a world-class experience for guests.

The brief also required an economically and ecologically sustainable outcome, while creating a world-class experience for guests.

This led to three distinctive sites: a mountain “village,” a botanical edible garden for the resort, and a forested landscape for the residential development.

Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat

While the original brief was for accommodation, we could see the benefits of an expanded program—a small “town center,” including a square, café, and artisan food stores.

A distance from the nearest town, a small commercial center would provide places to shop and congregate, growing the destination’s profile and tourism economy.

Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat

Structures on each site are composed with materials from their surroundings—mountain granite in the botanical garden, traditional stucco in the village, and reclaimed wood in the forest, all blended into a harmonious composition.

While all part of one family, each site has subtly distinct differences in color, tone, and materiality.

Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat

Abstracted interiors feature large and dramatic openings to frame the landscape, engaging the senses with the look, feel, smells, tastes, and sounds of the alpine environment.

The result is an artful choreography of tightly clustered buildings and ancient materials in a sensitive reinterpretation of the traditional Ticinese hilltown.

Lago Maggiore Retreat


Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat
Lago Maggiore Retreat

Oppenheim Architecture
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Oppenheim Architecture
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