A Hotel in Rodi

with Stefano Pisu

A symbolic site for the importance of its archeological and architectural evidence, the fortified city of Rhodes has since 1988, ranked as a cultural asset under the protection of  UNESCO, its pluralistic secular layers going as far back as the classical, byzantine, medieval and gothic periods.

A masterpiece perimeter wall oversees the city for   more than a further four kilometers. The access to the inner citadel is still tightly controlled by ten mighty doors that mark the languages assigned by control of the various cavaliers of different origins.

The Building in question of the project can be found in the southern area. Just beyond the Porta di Coschinù there is no certain  evidence regarding its origin but it is assumed from some technical construction features that a part of the body could have  belonged to the epoch of the knights and in particular to the period running from 1480 to 1522. The different masonry layers reveal a natural historical evolution, made up of construction and reconstruction, expanding annexations and later accretions going back as far as the 18^th century earthquake and the period  of the building fervor corresponding to the three periods of Italian domination.

However, the road foundation masonry which came to light during the excavations carried put to free an internal courtyard from a ground floor is most certainty attributable to the byzantine epoch.

The main body of the building has a ground out lay in an” Elle” style, with an internal garden.

The construction is housed on two floors with load-bearing walls made up of tuff block and horizontal wooden structures.

The recovery project aims at including a hotel within, one of an exclusive nature and one of the few on the external side of the external wall. The design process meets up with a number of delicate issues relating to the aim of conserving, reclaiming and safeguarding the considerably decorative features, freeing space but at the same time, declaring the contemporary nature of the project by employing where possible, a modern language in a close dialectical compositional corpus with the historic building.

On the external side more subject to environmental constraints, it has been thought to act discretely by emphasizing the value of the existing masonry. The main side is completed by the placement of a wooden bow window above the main entrance, designed according to the traditional radiota type.

Opening are strengthened and ground wires of the eaves reproportioned so as to enhance the massive effect of the front wall masonry Traces of plaster are conserved and boxed-in clearly exposing any contrast with tuff.

The design project is completely different with regards to the interior, any past projects in the latter case being totally redesigned.

The plan has favored the rationalization of the environments, organized into equal areas. On the ground floor is situated the double-heighted entrance hall, the bar-areas and a dining room in an ongoing physical space, with an arcade and courtyard becoming a real open skyed extension of collective space.

Always on the ground floor, there is an entrance leading straight onto the garden where one of the five suites can be found.

Going along the two flights of stairs one arrives at the upper floor where the other guest areas are to be found.

To complete the project, the inner courtyard has been arranged as to imitate the traditional gardens of Rodi.