An Upside-Down Spa Floats in Midair at Italy’s Hotel Hubertus
At Hotel Hubertus, the wellness experience is literally being spun on its head. Designed by Noa Network as an addition to the hotel, a new spa overlooking the town of Valdaora in northern Italy looks like a floating village turned upside down. “The essence of this project is about overturning horizons, with the result being a feeling of amazement for the observer,” Lukas Rungger, the lead architect and cofounder of Noa, says of the project. “Visitors to the spa experience a variety of constantly changing views in the wellness areas, where their perspectives are constantly changing, whether they are lying in the sauna, sitting in the relaxation area, or floating in the pool.” Officially named the Hub of Huts, the project was completed last June.
Vertiginous and suspended in an alpine void, the goal was to reimagine the landscape observation experience. The spa’s façade is positioned in a way that it is reflected in a nearby infinity pool—also designed by Noa—and is suspended 50 feet above ground level, supported by two pillars clad in larch logs. The entire platform extends outwards 66 feet, floating in the air. A walkway, also suspended in midair, connects it to a newly constructed glassed-in relaxation area that can accommodate up to 27 people. On the platform, individual gable-roofed structures house wellness facilities.
Of course, its visual highlight is the inverted double-pitch roofs, which extend downward from the lower level of the platform, giving the horizon the appearance of 180-degree rotation. Both formal and functional concerns drove this choice: The architects gave new life to the vernacular architecture of mountain villages, and they also reflected the practical need to house the swimming pool’s water purification and other mechanical systems, and the bleacher-like benches in the sauna. The stunning result is reminiscent of a print by Escher, where the dream-like structure follows a game of reversals in perspective and engineering acrobatics.
“The lower level of the platform provokes a feeling of a certain dislocation. As you descend, the temperature rises, and the environment becomes more protected. It feels like a descent into the center of the Earth, with everything turned on its head,” says architect Gottfried Gruber, who supervised the project. On the upper floor there are two whirlpools, two panoramic showers, and a changing room, exposed to the open air. The lower floor is a clothes-free area, and the central, indoor part houses the foyer. Throughout the facilities you’ll also find a soft sauna, a Finnish sauna, a walk-in shower, a cold mist shower, and a third outdoor pool, where spa-goers can gaze over the entire surrounding landscape.
The spa’s colors and materials were inspired by their location. Aluminum panels in natural brown tones cover the individual cabins, louvers shield the windows and conceal the thickness of the platform, and floors are covered in light beige ceramic tiles. In the relaxation room, the floor is oiled white oak. The final product is both a gravity-defying example of architecture and a testament to what can be created when designers think in tune with the natural surroundings.
Photo: Alex Filz Photography1/8Suspended between the clouds and the peaks of the Dolomites, the new Hub of Huts sauna is at the Hotel Hubertus in Italy’s South Tyrol region. It was designed by Noa Network.
Photo: Alex Filz Photography2/8The new Hub of Huts spa is on a suspended platform that defies gravity, turning the concept of wellness upside down.
Photo: Alex Filz Photography3/8The shape of the sauna recalls the profiles of local buildings, reflected in the water of Hotel Hubertus’s pool—which was a previous Noa project.
Photo: Alex Filz Photography4/8The spa is separated from the rest of the hotel. It’s located on a cantilevered platform suspended 50 feet above ground level and supported by two pillars clad in larch logs, echoing trees in the surrounding landscape.
Photo: Alex Filz Photography5/8The sauna is supported by two pillars clad in larch logs.
Photo: Alex Filz Photography6/8Seen here is one of the spa’s three outdoor pools, with sweeping views of the surrounding landscape.
Photo: Alex Filz Photography7/8“The wellness areas offer changing perspectives,” says Lukas Rungger, lead architect and cofounder of Noa. “Whether you’re lying in the sauna, sitting in the relaxation area, or submerged in the pool, the views are constantly changing.”
Photo: Alex Filz Photography8/8The wellness area is on two levels with different treatments. Exposed spaces are on the upper level and protected ones below.
