Arriving from Merano in spring, when the bloom is at its peak, one immediately understands what fascinated NOA’s architects and interior designers during their first visit to the Nutzhof Hotel: greenery defines the character of this place.
Project Name: NUTZHOF
Studio Name: NOA
Location: Lagundo – Merano, South Tyrol
Construction start – end: January 2025 – April 2025
Gross floor area (GFA): 720 m2
Photography: Alex Filz
The hotel, which also operates as a family-run agricultural estate, is accessed via a road shaded by a vine-covered pergola—the first element to inspire the design concept. From the entrance to the property, a 4,000 m² garden unfolds, home to a rich variety of palms, olive trees, banana plants, and cypresses, set within a terraced landscape that embodies the very essence of South Tyrol, suspended between the understated elegance of the Alps and Mediterranean warmth.
The Obkircher family’s guesthouse consists of three buildings: the main house, a dependance with apartments, and a wellness area. The project focused on renovating the 13 apartments in the dependance building, aiming not only to update the interiors but to radically rethink their layout—opening the central area to natural light and breaking down the traditional separation of bathroom, sleeping, and living areas.
As in many NOA projects, the bathroom here also receives special attention: it is an open space without clear boundaries, designed to maintain strong visual connections to the outside. Generous surfaces and meticulous attention to detail transform it into a place of well-being for body and senses. The traditional room concept has been expanded: a fully equipped kitchen module is integrated into a dedicated piece of furniture, which can be opened or closed as needed. While retaining the existing openings, the new layouts ensure even natural light and maximum livability. The thirteen units, spread over four floors, range in size from 35 to 65 m². A key challenge was completing the construction in a short timeframe while implementing the design concept successfully, without altering the load-bearing elements, and at the same time renewing all technical systems.
Thus emerges a subtle dialogue between north and south, between Alpine calm and Mediterranean lightness, offering guests a regional and sensory experience.
The nature surrounding the hotel serves as the project’s main source of inspiration: colors, textures, and forms of the landscape are reinterpreted within the interiors. All custom-made furnishings feature organic lines that echo the contour lines of the surrounding terrain. A recurring element in all rooms is the wooden structure extending above the beds. Referred to by the interior designers as “the sky,” it evokes the pergolas lining the approach to the hotel and reproduces this leafy canopy indoors through a wallpaper covering. This element defines the sleeping area without enclosing it, integrates the bedside tables and dedicated lighting, and serves as support for the hanging lamps.
In the rooms, everything is designed to ensure continuity and a fully immersive sensory experience. The materials include metal, wood, rattan, ceramic, and plaster. The color palette is restrained and subtle, with the sole exception of a coral accent on the kitchen walls and upholstered elements. Recurring elements create cohesion between the different areas: the metal rods, for example, become multifunctional components that, like the branches of a climbing plant, traverse the room, transforming as needed into coat racks, lamps, or perforated partition panels. Organic, teardrop-shaped mirrors and the softly rounded headboards also contribute to defining a continuous and enveloping environment.
