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Project Name: Gilpin Hotel Spa Suites

Location: Windermere Lake District

Date Completed: September 2020

Architect: Ben Cunliffe Architects Ltd

Interior Designer Nielsen House

Hotel Group: Gilpin Hotel

Construction Company: Retreat Homes

The Lodges are single-story timber pods with a south-facing garden including water features. There is one-bedroom and an open living space with a small kitchen and a dining area. The bathroom leads on from the living room and finishes with its own spa room consisting of a sauna, steam room, massage table and chair.

The brief was to create a biophilic space using the Lakeland surroundings as design inspiration. The Hotel, which is known for its distinctive rooms, wanted an underlying consistency of theme across the suites but for the soft furnishings to tell a different story across each one suite. All are individually named after the fells and mountains around them, so each suite has its own identity.

Gilpin are committed to providing their guests with an elegant, relaxing escape to luxury and the designers were required to use their creativity to help them create something exceptionally unexpected and unique.

The favourite aspect of the design is how, through specialist wall coverings the designers were truly able to bring the outdoors in. By using natural materials such as bark, silver birch, stone veneers, cork and even concrete, these textures help to create a fun and unique finish to the space.

The spa lodges work well, with the designers being able to meet the clients brief fully as a result of the long-standing 20-year relationship they have with the Gilpin. Through this partnership, they were able to use unique finishes to create interesting and breath-taking designs, not just for the client but for their guests.

This design integrates well because of its surroundings and the proximity to nature itself which is its inspiration. As you drive up to the suite, the roads are lined with trees, with fells as the backdrop – and then as you enter the suite itself, the sense of the outdoors greets you. They also look at using local suppliers where possible to limit impact to our environment.