Hotel Krallerhof Leogang, Austria holiday spa resort, Alps wellness property images, Contemporary Alpine architecture design

Hotel Krallerhof in Leogang, Austria

14 February 2024

Architects: Hadi Teherani Architects

Location: Leogang, Austria

photos courtesy of architects office

Atmosphere by Krallerhof, Austria

Atmosphere by Krallerhof, a new spa and adult-exclusive wellness facility designed by award-winning Hadi Teherani Architects, has officially opened at the five-star Hotel Krallerhof in Leogang, Austria, expanding the luxurious Alpine resort’s suite of recreational services and facilities.

Blending harmoniously into the surrounding alpine landscape and creating a year-round space for relaxation and regeneration, ‘ATMOSPHERE’ builds on the long tradition of luxury accommodation synonymous with Hotel Krallerhof, first opened by the Altenberger family in 1956. Making use of innovative Kebony wood decking, the spectacular hotel delivers a contemporary wellness experience enhanced by themes of sustainability and healthy architecture.

German studio Hadi Teherani were commissioned to develop an extension to Hotel Krallerhof’s interior and exterior leisure facilities in 2019, with all works on the project successfully delivered last summer.

“I wanted to create a building that is subordinate to this wonderful landscape, but is still present,” comments lead architect, Hadi Teherani. “ATMOSPHERE engenders a quiet experience of great intensity, especially in the 50-metre-long infinity pool, embedded in a large natural swimming lake and the vastness of this unique landscape.”

The Krallerhof Spa is located on a slope, minimising the visual impact for guests looking out from the hotel while, at the same time, remaining characteristic of the local alpine terrain.

The centrepiece of the new facility is a 5,500m2 natural swimming and bathing lake which incorporates a 50m Olympic sized heated infinity pool at its heart, surrounded by an open-floor sun lounging space decked entirely in Kebony wood.

The wooden decking extends into a circular trail, moving outwards from the spa building and enveloping the entire lake, offering multiple viewing platforms that each provide unique, calming perspectives of the neighbouring Steinernes Meer plateau and Leoganger Steinberge mountain range.

Developed in Norway, Kebony wood is dually modified™, providing a durable and beautiful building material that is also environmentally friendly. The patented Kebony® technology transforms sustainably sourced softwoods, such as pine, to mimic the durability and dimensional stability of tropical hardwood.

In addition to its material and aesthetic qualities, Kebony wood is also weather resistant, withstanding the extremities of the European winter, and requires little to no maintenance following installation, bypassing any extended periods of spa closure for the treatment of the decking.

The use of Kebony embodies the eco-conscious ethos of the ‘ATMOSPHERE’ project, evident in the creation of a new plant belt in the lake which uses the excavated material from construction for the new zen garden, supporting biodiversity and local flora and fauna. In a further piece of innovation, the heating of the infinity pool has been delivered by means of a biomass power, utilising local wood chips from a timber construction enterprise only 200m from the hotel.

After circumnavigating the lake, the wooden path enters into the main resort via a descending glass façade, seamlessly linking the tranquility of the outdoors to the world-class suite of treatments available at Hotel Krallerhof. The new facility includes a sub-zero ‘Ice Grotto’ therapy room, a ‘Blue Grotto’ water vault, a White Himalayan infrasalt room, a Finnish-style and herbal all-wooden ‘Amphi-Sauna’ and a café, each providing guests with a holistic selection of relaxation experiences, alongside the Hotel’s programme of wellness activities, including yoga and Ayurveda. Locally produced wood and glass adorn the exposed concrete walls of the building interior with vertical boarding, while special furniture carved from provincial alpine marble completes the calming, eco-friendly vision of this iconic new project.

Nina Landbø, International Sales Manager for Kebony, comments: “ATMOSPHERE by Krallerhof Spa and Hadi Teherani Architects is one of the largest applications of Kebony decking in the world. This successful project demonstrates that modern hospitality design can be achieved both at scale, while remaining intimate and rooted in the comfort of nature, therefore providing a unique, high-quality recreational experience.’’