High-altitude thermal resort

In recent years, traditional thermal spas have increasingly been undergoing restyling and design operations led by famous architects. Alongside the thermal treatments themselves, the ambiences of the new spas are becoming crucial and are acquiring strong emotional appeal that involves all five senses equally so as to maintain a perfect sense of harmony.
The various spaces are designed according to the location of the facility. In the remodelling project for the Alpentherme-Kurzentrum spa centre in Austria, architect Johann Lemmerhofer felt it was essential to use local materials so as to reinterpret the landscape within the facility in a creative and highly appealing way.
Each individual element in this high-altitude resort is conceived as part of an overall project that assures guests a warm welcome and a pleasant stay during which time they can regain physical well-being. The project extended over the entire structure and involved reorganising and renovating the spaces in such a way as to promote a sense of dialogue between the interiors and the outside world. There are six health and relaxation areas in a 32,000 square metre space that affords a magnificent alpine view and features a sauna area with alpine lake, relaxation and wellness oases, a multimedia dome, water slides, geysers and a glass Sky Bar. Not to mention a pool with hydromassage beds, a spring water hot tub, and a «digestorium» with fire.
The project devotes considerable attention both to detail and to the choice of materials. The new Alpen Therme spa in Gastein is inspired by a natural vision that promotes a sensation of comfort: from the warmth of wood to the transparencies of glass and the appeal of stone created by Tiger Rock tiles from Ceramica Fondovalle. The glazed porcelain tile collections from Ceramica Fondovalle, created using cutting-edge technology, are inspired by stone and the most sophisticated natural materials, their technical and aesthetic qualities making them ideal for interiors and exteriors and for residential and commercial applications. They offer a harmonious combination of beauty and environmental awareness while Bi+Fusion technology faithfully reproduces the appeal of Indian hard stones.
These industrially produced stones challenge their natural counterparts in terms of hardness, resistance, strength and ease of handling and installation, as well as the visual elegance of their surfaces. This demonstrates that industry can deliver even more than nature: products that have equivalent aesthetic and mechanical characteristics, including wear, impact and friction resistance and non-slip qualities, but which are free from aesthetic defects, impurities and points of weakness. The surfaces have beautiful patterns, colours and finishes that make them visually indistinguishable from natural marble and granite.