Bakhmaro Mountain Hotel

Our competition-winning proposal has been designed to connect guests to the wider landscape from the moment of arrival.

The scheme fosters a relationship between architecture, experience and the natural world. This begins as the mountain roads draw you into Bakhmaro, over the ridges and into the valley, where the architecture becomes a part of this extraordinary view, a purposeful composition of stepped and staggered form. As you move closer, gently sloping contours of its pitched roofs emerge from the landscape.

The architectural response creates a ‘base’ to the buildings - a heavier stone element that reads as part of the terrain - with lighter timber buildings on top. This is a language that borrows from the historical fabric of Bakhmaro. Working with the topography, WilkinsonEyre created steps and terraced roofs to maximise the views, whilst creating a linked series of amenity spaces. The building acts as a kind of filter for the landscape. As you enter the building, its solidity melts away with a porous interior that blurs the edge between inside and outside.

"Our vision for Bakhmaro Mountain Resort is one that deeply respects the site and its surrounding landscape - where the damage from uncontrolled, ad-hoc patterns of poor developments is avoided, and a beautiful relationship is established between architecture, experience and the natural world.”

Sam Wright, Director

The resort design respects and seeks to repair the dramatic mountain topography. The quality of the view has been eroded and ecosystems compromised through the uncontrolled grazing of animals and through ad hoc arrangements for sewage and water. The biodiversity of Bakhmaro has been significantly altered, degrading what should be an ecologically rich alpine meadow eco-system.