Dhermi, a typical town located in the south of Albania, halfway between the two nodal points of the national tourist flows, Valona and Saranda, in 2019 will see the birth of a new 5- star hotel, the Empire Resort Hotel, a modern structure that will add value to the town, already famous for its green terraces and crystal clear waters.
The impressive tourist building, designed by m12 AD, led by architect Michelangelo Olivieri, will be composed of three floors and 65 rooms, on a total area of 8800 square meters. In spite of the complexity and the greatness of the project, the Empire Resort Hotel will be fully camouflaged with the surrounding landscape. The building will not present any element of visual disturbance that may deprive visitors of Dhermi's landscape features - a place where the mountain is peaking over the sea.
"The project of the Empire Resort Hotel was born with the intent to donate to the city of Dhermi and to careful and conscious customers, a beautiful accommodation completely immersed into the green and totally respecting the surrounding area," says Michelangelo Olivieri, creator of the project.
The strategy has been focused on not to deprive guests of the beautiful views enjoyable from the sea to the back mountains. This incredible site has the peculiarity of being in a geographical area where, in just 7km, it is possible to pass from the sea level to over 1900m of altitude. The hotel will be characterized by a linear and clean shape, made of wood and local stone, designed as a hi-tech coffer hidden in the territory. Michelangelo Olivieri has opted for a "steps” building, which will gradually descend from the sea to the mountain, playing with the curves on the ground. Watching it from afar, it would seem to see a box of wood and glass inserted on the slope, like a small gem.
The fil-rouge of the project is the constant connection between external and internal, without visual interruptions.
The hotel will develop on two floors, plus a basement. Guests will be welcomed by a large square and they will be able to access the building through a walkway that will seem to float on a water mirror. Crossing the lobby, equipped with a front desk, bar and lounge area, customers will come to an infinity pool, which will merge directly with the horizon line. It will be as if the whole hotel will lie on a water mirror, ending up directly in the sea.
The infinity pool will also be part of the roof of the basement, in order to reinforce the idea of no visual boundaries. The basement, a strategic choice of the architect to take advantage of the slope of the terrain, besides the kitchens and the technical spaces, will house the wellness area, a spa, a small shopping gallery and a restaurant with over 100 seats, from which it will be possible, looking up, to admire the reflections of the pool water. This design option has enabled m12 AD to avoid a sunshade screen, exploiting the water shielding capacity, with no structural impediments to the sky.
On the ground floor there will be 29 bedrooms, of which 5 are facing the mountains, while the remaining 24 will have a sea view. Some rooms will be equipped with a private garden.
The first floor will be composed of 36 rooms, of which 19 with a balcony. The rooms at the top of the three aisles will be destined to three stunning suites, each with a private terrace paved in wood and lawn, and, in the case of the two with the sea view, completed with an exclusive pool with integrated hydromassage.
Large windows, wooden deck, gardens and swimming pools are the key elements that have made it possible to project this hotel with no visual breaks. The wood and the green will completely merge with the mountains behind, while the glazed surfaces and the blue pools will look like a natural extension of the seabed.
The entire building will see the use of materials such as native stone and wood, respecting the local construction tradition, and will be surrounded by lawn, olive trees and Mediterranean maquis. A jewel of modern architecture inserted into the environmental context without coming into contrast with it, on the contrary, enhancing its natural attractiveness.
The Empire Resort Hotel will be in balance with the environment not only from a visual point of view, but also from the sustainability one. In fact, it will be provided with thermal break windows, masonry with air-chamber systems and high-performance materials such as glass wool insulating panels and breathable plastering. In order to avoid energy expenditure and to accommodate the terraced gardens with plants and lawns, have been designed high-level slab with adequate irrigation and water retrieval systems.
m12 AD has provided the project of the Empire Resort Hotel with all the facilities to make this hotel a crown jewel of the growing tourism development in Albania. Gyms, shopping galleries, restaurants, as well as a club house, a projection room and a small casino. "The project of the Empire Resort Hotel is a wonderful opportunity for Dhermi, because pre-existing prestigious facilities and new buildings such as the Empire will bring this area to an important positioning to in the international tourist offer."
The works to build this perfect architectural union between environmental sustainability, respect for the territory, and all the comforts of an extraordinary hotel have kicked off in September 2017 and will be completed in 2019.