An elegant and functional country hotel inspired by the Amazon

The beauty of La Serena reservoir, in Badajoz, gives the natural landscapes of this area a unique environment in which to enjoy rural tourism, something that is reflected in this newly built hotel. The four-star GilMar Hotel translates into comfortable and functional spaces, with a design inspired by the Amazon in which natural and contemporary materials have been used to stand the test of time whilst providing elegance and quality. Among them, DKTN is the material of choice for those areas that needed to be particularly hard-wearing. More specifically, DKTN has been used for the cafeteria bar, the stair treads and the façade.

‘For the façade, we were looking for a material that would withstand the temperature changes associated with a continental climate where winters are very cold and summers are very hot,’ explain the architects. ‘DKTN not only meets the requirements we were looking for, but also requires no maintenance whatsoever, so we can be sure that the façade will look as good as new,’ they add.

DKTN was fixed to the façade with a high-performance cement-based adhesive to suit the large format of the piece. This system provides high impact resistance and a continuous finish, as the minimal grouting between the pieces, which DKTN ensures thanks to its low coefficient of thermal expansion, is achieved with a putty of the same colour.

For this glued façade, two contrasting colours were selected to create a geometric and contemporary design: DKTN Lunar and DKTN Liquid Embers. The dark design with bluish tones of Liquid Embers creates a powerful geometric pattern that matches Lunar’s cement-inspired white shade.