January 2020: Hotel Arlberg, a family-run alpine hotel in Lech, has invested in renovations and contemporary interiors with wellbeing at its heart. Fresh flair has been brought to the traditional building, using innovative techniques and products including:
- 100% natural paint – using pigments created from nature itself
- Bespoke colour concept – sympathetic to the hotel’s location
- Lime as wall plaster – delivering deliberate health benefits
- One-of-a-kind hydrotherapy – unique collection of experience showers
The €5 million project
In the past year, the family Schneider, owners and hosts have invested €5 million in a subterranean spa extension, new rooms and fresh interior design. The new spa facility features glass courtyards, library and relaxation rooms, and connects to a new heated, stainless-steel outdoor pool (a unique offering in Lech), with integrated whirlpool, plus terrace with bar. 11 rooms, including a two-bedroom family suite, have been freshly renovated.
Traditions meet Transformation
The longstanding hospitality of the Schneider family has been translated into an interior concept through warm, earthy tones. Meanwhile, the hotel’s 65 year heritage is reflected in carefully selected furniture by traditional Austrian carpenters.
Contemporary touches have also been introduced to reflect the current, more forward-thinking ownership, including Italian pieces by Molteni, Rimadesio and Cattelan Italia that add elegance and style. Furthermore, the architecture and interior design follow an innovative holistic concept, using natural products that release positive energy and a colour scheme that promotes wellbeing.
Healthy Innovations
‘Colour experts’ created holistic spaces in the spa and new bedrooms, using exclusive paints made from 100% natural ingredients, whose colours derive from volcanic clays, semi-precious stones, Carrara marble and ultramarine ash. Each pigment was carefully chosen for its associations with particular emotions and energy, resulting in a bespoke and ‘healthy’ colour palette.
“With no chemicals, there’s no smell and is therefore healthier to have on your walls. It’s healthier on a subconscious level too, as it’s reflecting pure pigmentation and more intense colours that you’d genuinely find in nature,” said Patrick Krummenacher.
The hotel’s colour concept is entirely sympathetic to its surroundings, and designed to evoke specific feelings such as relaxation or invigoration. Calming blue and sage green represent the mountains in summer, a Champagne silver is reminiscent of snow-capped peaks, while red bedroom doors energise you on departure.
“Our guests sleep in their rooms and relax in a spa, surrounded by colours that come from nature, not a lab. The light blue on the ceiling has been made from semi-precious, lapice gemstones, and evokes the feeling of looking up at the sky. It completely enhances the relaxation experience,” Patrick added.
In addition, Lime plaster was used on the spa walls to provide both a natural feel to the surface, as well as for its health benefits. Being 100% mineral, it helps to maintain a room’s climate balance by releasing moisture back into the air and being naturally alkaline also resists mould.
Finally, the stone used in the spa is Vals quartzite, which has been quarried in Vals (170km away) and used in regional building projects for centuries. It has become one of the most sought after construction materials around the world, popular with renowned architects like Peter Marino, Marc Newson, Philippe Starck, Peter Zumthor, Norman Foster and Kengo Kuma.
World Class Hydrotherapy
Hotel Arlberg is the only bookable location in the world where you can experience every hydrotherapy creation by Dornbracht, experts in sensation showers. Enjoy a horizontal water massage while lying down, indulge in chroma and aromatherapy while you bathe, and choose from a range of multi-sensory water experiences that play with temperature, pressure and light. It’s also a wonderful alternative for those who don’t enjoy a hands-on massage.
Light as Art
Art in the spa comes in the form of creative lighting in the relaxation room. 14 beds are lit by lamps covered in copper leaf, the brightness of which can be adjusted and customised according to relaxation preferences.
Despite its subterranean setting, natural light still filters down to the spa via two glass courtyards. Challenging to build – given the climate of snow, rain and humidity – the resulting structures invite shafts of natural light to permeate the spa communal areas.
Awards and Recognition
With the paint barely dry, the hotel has already received an award for its Interior Architecture at the German Design Awards. The jury commented.”The design manages to combine regional identity with modern aesthetics and functionality, featuring high-quality materials, modern technology and atmospheric lighting. A homogenous, coherent interior that retains the flair of the hotel´s heritage as well as conveys a sense of modern luxury.”
Prices at Hotel Arlberg start from EUR 600 per double room per night on half board basis. Open for winter until 13 April 2020. Fly to Zurich airport, from where it is a scenic 2.5 hour car ride, or Innsbruck airport where it’s just an hour’s transfer.