(Title)
Fayoum Boutique Lakeside Hotel
(Year)
2020 - On Hold
(Area)
1,070 sq
(Type)
Hospitality
(Location)
Fayoum, Egypt
(Firm)
KAL
(Role)
Principal Architect & Project Lead
The boutique lakeside hotel was designed to stand as an artistic refuge adjacent to the creative pottery hub of the countryside in Tunis Village Fayoum, Egypt. The architecture is a simple re-interpretation of the vernacular style of the area, utilizing local materials and earth tones that compliment the surrounding environment.
The hotel itself was designed as an open indoor-outdoor fortress, offering both privacy for the guests within its many private and public courtyards, whilst displaying unobstructed 180-views of the historic Lake Qaroun and the hotel’s farms. The hotel facilities and their courtyards are speckled with indigenous vegetation that peer out through their soft bamboo roofs, loom-inspired wall and roof partition elements and arched walls to create an intriguing elevation of color, texture, greenery with plenty of play with shade and shadow. The final result is an inviting and intriguing architecture, a welcoming boutique hotel that is a true reflection of the clients’ identity, inviting guests, craftspeople and various artisans from Fayoum and its surrounding areas.
High-Performance Environmental Strategies
- Enhanced cross-ventilation through all rooms and outdoor spaces
- Outer louvers and second walls for protection from excessive heat-gain and glare
- Multiple private and public courtyards for natural day-light and enhanced cross-ventilation
- Extensive indigenous vegetation to filter air and sound pollution and enhance air quality, whilst cooling the outdoor shaded areas
- Double walls and stone walls to enhance building envelope’s performance and delay transfer of heat and cold into the interior spaces
- Cooling body of water to cool incoming air flow
- Roof slabs insulated with white reflective pebbles to reduce heat gain
- Natural roof shading elements to enhance air flow and reduce heat gain
- Double-glazed windows for only specific elevations to reduce costs and improve performance where needed
- White-washed brick vaults on first floor units reflect excessive sunlight and improve indoor building performance