High altitude swimming
Pools have always been a selling point for hotels, leveraging unique vantage points to offer unparalleled views of, say, an urban jungle (Marina Bay Sands in Singapore), a stark desert (Amangiri in Utah) or an endless expanse of blue (almost any resort in The Maldives). Now you can add the dramatic vertices of Italy’s South Tyrolian Dolomites mountain range to that list, with a breathtaking new pool at Hotel Hubertus.
Located in Valdaora, one of Italy’s hotspots for skiing (and hiking in the summer months), the recent renovation of Hotel Hubertus saw 16 new suites, a restaurant and a lodge added. All attention, though, was directed to the pool, designed by architecture firm noa*. What makes the pool so special isn’t just the view – stunning as it is – but that it is suspended some 12 metres above the ground. A fact best appreciated by swimming 25m to the edge where a glass bottom reveals exactly how precarious the height is. Anthracite-coloured stone slabs were selected to match the colour of the Dolomites, part of the Italian Alps, reinforcing the illusion of being suspended in mid-air. It certainly isn’t for the timid or the acrophobic, but for the brave, one for the bucket list.
Supporting the cantilevered pool, which juts 17m from the façade of the hotel, are trunks of native larch trees stripped of bark. It somehow softens the blow of the angular pool, helping it to blend into the natural landscape. The trunks also make an appearance across the exterior of the curved hotel, unifying the aesthetic and also acting as room dividers and beams. The aim of the design, according to noa*, was to give the ‘swimmer the feeling of floating – weightlessly between heaven and earth.’ If that was the goal, then consider this a hat-trick.
