Excavated surfaces with white and fluid walls, without edges, float on the floors and create a cavernous structure for its visitors in this hotel and space complex in Matera, Italy. 

Interior and lighting design of this hotel was envisioned by Simone Micheli, while architecture and execution of the project was completed by Cosimo Dell'Acqua.

Covering a total of 5,000-square-metre area, the hotel, named Aquatio Cave Luxury Hotel & SPA, is situated inside the Matera Sassi UNESCO World Heritage site. 

The story of "Aquatio Cave Luxury Hotel & SPA" begins with a drop, simple and pure figure that with its incessant fall shapes the material, shapes the spaces, the furnishings, the structure.

"A drop is the bronze work of Kengiro Azuma "MU765G", located in one of the two main entrances of the structure, which summarizes in its simplicity the meaning of life through the metaphor of the water cycle," said Simone Micheli.

Cosimo Dell'Acqua, the architect of the building, has completed the general and executive project of the architectonic and distributive recovery of the village, directly following the Works Direction. 

During this process, the architect intervened not on a single building, but he envisioned a concept based on a complex system that included buildings, roads, caves and cisterns.

"Many of the premises were in a state of evident neglect, full of waste and the rubble accumulated due to collapses were everywhere. Massive preliminary clearing out was necessary," added Simone Micheli.

The hotel complex is developed along a ridge of Sasso Caveoso, taking a slice, from the bottom up. The lower part with access from via B.-Buozzi host: the reception, the restaurant, the breakfast room, the meeting room, the wellness center. 

The entrance opens on two large open spaces that in previous times were neighborhoods.

Inside, the architect Simone Micheli designed interior spaces and lighting elements. Lighting design and interiors are complementing each other as a single component. All the furnishings act like a work of art, with white, fluid spaces. 

"The excavated surfaces and the vaults have been cleaned of lichen and efflorescence and brought back to their initial condition of color, as if the excavation of those parts had just been completed," added the studio. 

Lighting comes from below, through discrete lighting fixtures, strategically positioned to create unique scenographic effects. "Creating emotions" is the concept that animated the entire design process.

According to the architects, the wellness center is the central design component of the project, in fact it is a suggestive place and occupies the deepest heart of the structure, recovering hypogeal rooms dating back to the 19th century. 

The restaurant room has been designed as a flexible space, intercommunicating space with the breakfast room and the meeting area. Its capacity varies according to the occasions, making itself available to contingent events and needs. 

The rooms are mainly placed in the upper part of the structure, with bright, enjoy breathtaking views of the Caveoso cliff and this part represents the ancient city or excavated, hidden inside the womb of the earth, only a door to indicate its presence as the ancient shelters of the men of the Neolithic settlements on the Murgia.

The studio added that "in the rooms the water has been brought back to where the signs were found: channels dug into the walls, small wells, cisterns, have been cleaned and brought back to light so that the guests of Aquatio could catch them."

First level plan

Second floor plan

Third floor plan

Sixth floor plan

Roof floor plan

Elevation

Project facts

Project name: Aquatio Cave Luxury Hotel & SPA

Architects: Cosimo Dell'Acqua.

Interior Design: Simone Micheli

Location: Matera, Italy 

Size: 5000m2

Date: 2018

All images © Jürgen Eheim

All drawings © Simone Micheli

> via Simone Micheli