The Design Team was given a quite narrow plot on one of the most prestigious and highly visited beachfronts on the island of Cyprus – Protaras, in order to design a 110-room hotel. Protaras is a purely touristic area, relying heavily on the summer tourist currents and falls into hibernation during the winter months. However, it has managed somehow to severe the connection between its main street -its artery- and the reason of its existence – the sea, just a couple of hundred meters next to it. This connection of the main street with the sea has been de facto undone by the occupation of the coastal front by massive hotels, which obscure the view.
Project Name: Flamingo Paradise Beach Hotel
Studio Name: CONSTANTI ARCHITECTS ENA PROS EKATO LLC
Location: Nicosia district
Status: built
Image Credits: CREATIVE PHOTOROOM
The aim of the Design team, established from the very outset of the design process, was the visual and physical reconnection of the city with the sea.
The volume of the rooms hovers above ground level, while at the same time the common areas are submerged below street level (taking advantage of the height difference between the street and the sea), freeing up the view. A straight route -accessible to everyone- is created, which starts from the main road, runs through all the levels of the hotel to end, either on the beach or on the viewing bridge/platform and to a relaxing unobstructed panoramic view of the sea.
Due to the shape of the plot, most of the rooms are placed along the sides of the plot and perpendicular to the sea. To compensate for this apparent disadvantage, each room is itself oriented towards the sea, thus achieving sea view experience for most of them. Moreover, each room represents a box, stacked upon other boxes, easily identifiable through its position and colour by its resident, even from the sea, providing this way a sense of uniqueness and identity to the stay.
Every main function of the hotel, either be it the reception, the bar, the conference room or the gym, is oriented towards the sea. The sea is the hotel’s northern star. It is the reason of the hotel’s existence. It is not just in front of it. It is part of it, through its constant presence.
