Villa Bordeaux occupies a prominent location in the center of Fira with impressive views towards the caldera. The renovation of this historical building aimed in achieving a hotel of few rooms next to a new outpost of the established La Colline restaurant in Moscow. While designing we were inspired by Frangomachalas, the quite small historic part of Fira built by the Venetians, featuring an a refined architecture of thick ochre walls and metal doors.
A departure from the all white Cycladic aesthetic, the hotel also explores instilling a modern approach within the traditional vocabulary. In the reception hall, a lighting installation relates to the western view towards the caldera, the flickering reflection of the sun in the sea. From there, access is granted to the two ground floor rooms (to the left) as well as to La Colline Privé, the indoor restaurant that retains the existing double barrel vault, filtered by a metal screen.
Renovation by
Mplusm Architects
The western room on the ground floor features a central island unit that combines bed and bath -a floating arrangement that echoes the position of the volcano within this island.
The two other rooms are located at the lower floor -built at an earlier stage- where cavernous vaults predominate, shaping a more complex and organic plan. On the exterior, one descends in order to arrive at La Colline, the outdoor restaurant, placed along the rim of the cliff. Adjacent to this, a bar is shielded by a curvilinear wooden pergola while some steps down, the redesign of the pool offers a more dynamic shape, a privileged area from which one may fully comprehend what made the caldera view so famous.
Villa Bordeaux is a luxury hotel built in a very steep slope on the rock of Caldera. Since the beginning of the reconstruction works, our main priority was to establish the structural reliability of the building and to repair any static damages. The extensive and detailed autopsy gave us accurate data for the condition of the building and the expert report with the following restoration study, led us to a number of actions to reinforce the bearing structure of the building.
One of the most basic and difficult tasks was the sub-foundation of the main columns of the old building. In addition, many excavation works took place and we constructed micro-columns for the foundation of the existing swimming pool on the underlying rock. After that, the pool was completely reconstructed. Furthermore, two underground hammam baths were built.
Internally, the stone walls of the building were reinforced with special composition gunite. All the walls of the building have been internally coated with special anti-crack mortars. Due to the internal reinforcement, the external plastering was made by a special mortar that allows transpiration.
Construction by
BERIOS
The old pebbled floors that covered a large part of the exterior area were restored. In some cases they were copied and used in new floors. Special composition mosaic was used in floors and stairs, or even as a covering of some walls. The old beacon of the building was maintained by art conservators. Since there is no vehicle access to the building, all works were performed manually, while all the material transportations were made with the use of mules.
Underfloor heating is provided in all areas of the hotel, while for the cooling of the hotel, a state-of-the-art energy efficient VRV system is used. The swimming pool and the jacuzzi are both heated. An instabus system (smart-building) allows the remote control of several functions. Finally, an electric generator has also been installed, ensuring the energy autonomy of the building.
