London-based architecture firm Tate Harmer unveiled plans for a £8.5M hotel project in Cornwall, UK, has just received planning permission from the Council. The new hotel, called the Eden Project, includes 109-bedrooms, a new café, education area and surrounding landscape as well as a restaurant at their current site in Cornwall. 

The building is entirely covered by millions of wooden strips and natural stone for the entrance blocks. Tate Harmer uses locally sourced materials, the hotel will sit sensitively within the Cornish countryside and offer high standards of accessibility, energy-efficiency and sustainability.

Massing has been carefully considered to minimise visual impact but optimise space for visitors. The Eden hotel will be split across three and four-storey blocks, connected by a central axis that will feature existing sycamore and oak trees and Cornish hedgerows, and create a new public area and event space.  Circulation is arranged to maximise views and create a feeling of connectivity to nature for visitors and users.

''Local stone cladding will be used at the lower level of the buildings, and locally-sourced timber poles are designed to set the main accommodation blocks into the surrounding landscape,'' said the office in a press release.

''The hotel will provide on-site accommodation for some of the Eden Project’s more than 1m annual visitors, and enhance the facilities it can offer as a venue for events, summer concerts, conferences and weddings.''

''Tate Harmer’s design will feature 27 larger rooms suitable for family and inclusive accommodation. Two new classrooms in the hotel will support the Eden Project’s educational programmes, including apprenticeship schemes and degree-level courses.''

This is the latest project by Tate Harmer for the Eden Project, in a collaboration that began in 2011 and has included the Rainforest Canopy Walkway, a high-level visitor experience in the Rainforest Biome, the second phase of which completed this summer.

''This building is a unique response to its local Cornish context and the philosophy of the Eden Project. Landscape is at the heart of the scheme. We are proud to have developed this design with the Eden Project as part of our ongoing relationship,'' Jerry Tate, Partner, Tate Harmer.

Construction work will start on site in late 2017 an is expected to complete due in 2018.

All images courtesy of Tate Harmer

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