Luxury Hoteliers Magazine 2nd Quarter 2019 | Page 19

Design Hotels in Greece The Dexamenes Seaside Hotel is carved from an abandoned winery with views of Kourouta beach on the western side of Greece known as the Peloponnese, only 30 minutes from the Katakolon port. Guests will have the experience of sleeping inside old wine tanks from the 1920s, reinvented by award-winning architecture firm K-Studio, into a more modern, streamlined aesthetic. Many of the guest rooms overlook the Ionian Sea and the local culture is steeped in the bar-lounge, taverna, history room, and boutique “Bakaliko” store featuring local produce. Into the Future Tropicalia, the concept for the world’s largest tropical greenhouse in Côte d’Opale, France, was named the winner of the Hotel and Leisure category at the MIPIM/ The Architectural Review Future Project Awards, which identify and celebrate future projects either still in design or under construction. Designed by Coldefy & Associés, the environmentally friendly 20 000m2 ‘double-dome’ encompasses a tropical forest, an 82-foot-high waterfall, a pool for Amazonian fish, and a long walking trail as well as a modern auditorium, restaurant, a lodge and a laboratory facility. This year’s MIPIM/The Architectural Review Future Project Awards was run in conjunction with MIPIM, the annual property festival in Cannes, and is their 18th year in celebrating creative designs in the making that will impact their community. Leading Ecotourism Operators unite to save Lions Singita, Wilderness Safaris, &Beyond, Conservation Travel Foundation by Ultimate Safaris have collaborated to launch the Lionscape Coalition to support a dwindling lion population that is now considered vulnerable. The lion population has halved in the last 25 years and their goal is to see the wild lion numbers doubled by 2050. Half the money contributed will go to projects in the country in which the member operates and the other half will be utilized at the discretion of the LRF’s Granting Committee. ILHA 19