“Synergy Spa” – Ein Gedi hotel | Meron levy

“Synergy Spa” – Ein Gedi hotel - Architecture corresponds with the Desert and the Sea "The world has seas and it has deserts, but God's grace is where the sea meets the desert and the desert meets the sea." - Amos Kenan

We located the spa of the Ein Gedi hotel on top of a hill that overlooks the meeting point of Arugot river and the Dead S ea. A place in which the desert meets the sea and nature’s spectacular power reveals itself in all its glory. The Decision to locate the spa on that point was the final step of a long process of study and research as part of a master plan prepared by my office to the Ein Gedi hotel.

The Spa is located on the edge of the promenade and  parallel to the mountain’s side, in the meeting point of the main site’s pathways/ The Circulation towards the entrance to the Spa is along a green paths, which includes landscape design

 In the program we constructed we brought under consideration the area’s unique features- topography, climate and winds. And still, the decision to locate the spa on that point precisely derive from an intuitive feeling which echoed the sense that in a place where man meets the endless beauty of nature, there’s an opportunity to design a site where the body could get the pleasurable treatments.

 The requirement of planning a sustainable structure, adjusting it to climatic conditions and the desire of Transparency and integration with nature all these affected the final details of the section towards the view. And 

that merger with the ground to our project. In this way the spa is merged with nature and becomes an integral part of the view which combines the Interior with the exterior. 

The experience : I really love to go back to the ancient buildings of Acropolis, and their location on top of the hill that watches Athens. In the architectural cloture of the ancient Greeks, the buildings were located in relation to the natural view, in order to enhance the architectural experience. That sort of relations between the buildings and the environment is the result of the relationship between landscapes, the movement of the people watching the buildings and the changes of sunlight projected on the buildings. At the beginning of the climb to the Acropolis one can hardly notice the structure at all, but with the progress of the climb around the mountain the temple reveals itself with all its glory.

 Climate adaptation : Using simple and modern construction methods that are suitable for the desert for saving energy and maintaining a comfortable climate and allowing us to use the transparency of the glass.