Landscaping within the landscape
The austere landscape of Priorat, alongside the Cartuja de Scala Dei, is home to a unique space, the Terra Dominicata hotel / wine cellar, where luxury and radical integration with the landscape are combined, not only from an aesthetic point of view but also through solutions for making the most of water resources and sustainability, in an environment where the climate and the slate create a unique landscape.
The plant minimalism of the design performed by Estudio Scob, which received the Architizer prize for this project, and the use of dry stone, creates a continuity space from the crags of Montsant to the sea of slate of historic Priorat.
The inclusion of colours, tones and materials in the garden and the terrace are a vehicle for our own integration into the landscape. They understand the architecture and landscape as encouraging happiness and a profound well-being, carried by the timeless silence of this unfriendly landscape.
Dry rock and plant minimalism
The project includes the vegetation and geology of the environment within the space of Terra Dominicata. The use of native species – lavender, rosemary, olive trees… – assures a chromatic inclusion and an optimal efficiency of the species provided, minimising the substitution of plants, the needs for maintenance and the consumption of water.
Complementarily, the installation of a water purification system in the hotel and wine cellar with biological – not chemical – purification technology complements a proposal for self-sustainability and the minimisation of external resources for watering the landscaped areas.
The intensive use of dry rock margins and elements, the construction of external paths with traditional bricks applied to the country houses of the Priorat and the terracotta flowerpots throughout the perimeter of the buildings and the accesses to the property complement a first-class chromatic and aesthetic inclusion, with every space or corner becoming an experience of happiness and well-being, where we find a natural balance of vegetation, materials, the environment and light.
