This proposal is for a brand new 4* hotel of high aesthetics in the Pefka suburb of Thessaloniki. The hotel is located on a central street of the area and on a strategic point on the main road axis connecting the three major metropolitan hospitals of the city of Thessaloniki. Due to this proximity to main medical facilities, this hotel can host the needs of patients’ escorts and families besides these of the classic hotel customer.

The hotel will have a total capacity of 75 beds, offering to its tenants a variety of 22 standard double rooms, 8 superior triple rooms with a small mezzanine, 1 triple suite and 1 suite-apartment for four persons. The hotel will also provide to its guests a training area, an outdoor pool and indoor parking places. The hotel building is arranged in a clustered shape creating an inner, private court divided in two levels. An “urban garden” lies in the upper level, suitable for any kind of social events, while in the lower level the main restaurant of the hotel is situated beside the pool. In this restaurant of 150 m2 area, with 70 indoor seats and 68 outdoor seats, all the hotel meals will be served, from breakfast to buffet-lunch. This modern bar-restaurant, serving in an open-air garden by the pool from noon till late in the evening, coffee, soft drinks, cocktails and meals, is going to be the main attraction of the hotel for both hotel guests and external customers.

Finally, in the hotel there will also be a multipurpose room (130 sqm) available for guests, which will operate as a modern business center with pcs and printers suitable for business meetings and presentations as well as a place of rest and relaxation (film projection, playing station etc.). The multipurpose room will be available for external customers as well, as it can host all kinds of professional and social events like seminars, lectures, private parties etc.

Several environmental design techniques were applied, both in terms of building’s shell, overall layout and landscape design. In addition to high insulation levels, most of the attention was focused on solar shading in order to reduce solar cost and thus the energy demand for cooling. Due to orientation, vertical timber louvers were used, creating a protective semi-opaque shell, with opening components, that becomes the dominant feature of the design. In terms of room design, clerestory windows were designed in the double height rooms, resulting in high levels of daylight. In addition, they allow for cross ventilation which is achieved in terms of landscape design as well by “lifting” room spaces in north and south off the ground level using “pilotis”. In this case, cross ventilation will be enhanced by locating a water feature (swimming pool) on the axis that is created. Careful selection of materials in landscape design can reduce overheating. Large areas are planted and thus the use of hard landscape materials that absorb large amounts of solar radiation and re-emit it, is reduced to the minimum required. Solar thermal collectors for Domestic Hot Water are placed on the flat roofs. There is provision for a rainwater harvesting system for several of the building’s water requirements and for irrigation.