Galazia Akti, Seaside Resort // Barault Architects

Schinias, Greece

Text description provided by the architects.

Galazia Akti Resort sits in a vast area of 322,920 square feet that includes a 6460-square-foot structure right on the beach that serves as a restaurant, self service area, and lounge. Additional facilities include a beach bar, sunbed area, VIP area, playground, changing rooms, restrooms, and parking. The first issue the architects had to tackle was the location itself.

The site all year long is hit by the sun, winds, and humidity, making it very challenging in terms of choosing materials that would endure the weather conditions and deciding what kind of structure would be appropriate in a beach environment without altering the scenery. Another challenge was that the facilities were scattered around the site with no clear routes or sense of orientation.

In the food and beverage area the great height of the pitched roofs was creating an unwelcoming atmosphere with no separation between areas of different uses (restaurant, self service, bar lounge).

The initial research of the architects focused on finding a structural element that would, through several forms, characterize the intervention and unify the distinct parts of the resort.

For example, a lightweight structure made of natural materials that would change and adjust in order to fulfill different purposes. Based mainly on the traditional wooden element “kafasoto” found everywhere throughout Greece, a wooden panel with latches placed on a random angular system was chosen as the connecting link. It transforms according to its use into horizontal or vertical shading elements, a lightweight separating panel, or even a facade cladding technique.In the restaurant and lounge area tones of gray were used to color the structural elements.

Concrete flooring was applied to the covered areas. Through intensive parametric design, a web of natural ropes is deployed under the pitched roofs creating an interesting linkage both between the ground surface, the inclined roof planes, and the three distinct areas of the plan. The set of tense ropes, obtained through the use of steel turnbuckles, refers to the masts of traditional sailing boats navigating the Greek seas.