Very, very welco­ming

The water shim­me­ring myste­riously blue through the glass panels of the rooftop pool is already visible from afar and makes the roof of the Hotel Olympus Palace an unmist­akable land­mark, espe­ci­ally in the evening. Hotel guests and passers-by who have become curious and visit this roof terrace find a new open areas with a large pool land­scape desi­gned by the Barce­lona archi­tec­ture office Matic & Garau.

With sand-beige porce­lain stone­ware tiles of the Valley series of Agrob Buchtal, the restrained, elegant area invites to swim and sunbathe, but also to enjoy deli­cious drinks and events at the bar.

Salou is located in the heart of the Costa Daurada in the province of Tarra­gona and is charac­te­rized by its gently sloping and fine sandy beaches. The rich histo­rical heri­tage with medieval monas­te­ries, inte­res­ting villages and beau­tiful land­scapes as well as the excel­lent Medi­ter­ra­nean cuisine make Salou an ideal holiday desti­na­tion.

The Hotel Olympus Palace is located in the heart of the city’s tourist centre, just 300 metres from the beach.

General reno­va­tion of 1600 m² roof terrace

The wexten­sive reno­va­tion of the hotel, which was built in the mid-1970s and has around 250 rooms, was completed in 2018 and focused in parti­cular on the 1600 m² roof area above the 6th floor.

High above the centre of the city not far from Tarra­gona, there was previously only a small water basin, two whirl­pools and a few areas for deck chairs. In their place, the hotel opera­tors wanted to realize a spacious roof terrace with pools, fitness area, bar and plenty of space for sunbathing.

“The aim was to create a spec­ta­cular roof land­scape that would change the image of the hotel and which is unique in Salou,” explains the  archi­tect Dubravka Matic. “The hotel guests should not only enjoy the refres­hing water, the cool wind and the view of the Medi­ter­ra­nean Sea, but also the relaxed lounge atmo­sphere with evening events and concerts around the bar.

Unusual vies from outside and inside

For the archi­tects, the restruc­tu­ring of the roof area was parti­cu­larly chal­len­ging above because the loca­tion and size of the water basins had to be precisely matched to the load-bearing capa­city of the exis­ting struc­ture, the exis­ting pipes and the posi­tion of nume­rous vertical exhaust air shafts.

Right from the begin­ning, the design concept provided for a raised pool area in the centre of the southern part of the roof area with a water surface appro­xi­m­ately 1.5 m above the U‑shaped sun-deck around it.

This solu­tion enabled long glass panels in the pool side walls, which offer swim­ming and diving bathers a view over the city and the sea, but also open up unusual under­water views in the oppo­site direc­tion.

Remi­nis­cent of natural elements of the Costa Daurada

A glance through these glass panels into the inte­rior of the pool reveals another special feature: large-size sand-beige porce­lain stone­ware tiles from the Valley series of Agrob Buchtal, which lend the 85 m² pool an unob­tru­sive noblesse thanks to their earthy relief struc­ture and natural look.

After tests carried out speci­fi­cally for this purpose, the archi­tects chose exactly these tiles because they perfectly harmo­nize with the nearby sandy beaches and rocks of the Costa Daurada, but also because they make the water sparkle parti­cu­larly inten­sely blue in the sun. “The light colour and the large formats should also create a modern appearance and avoid over­hea­ting,” says Matic. The 60 x 120 cm format used for the pool floors and walls not only offers an excep­tional visual impres­sion but also the advan­tage of a low propor­tion of joints, so that the clea­ning effort for the tiles is compa­ra­tively low despite the appro­priate slip resis­tance.

The same applies to the 15 m² whirl­pool, which is also located in the raised pool area directly next to the 20 m long large pool.

The pairs of columns placed in the centre of the pool area were also cladded with large-size porce­lain stone­ware tiles of the series Valley. These pairs carry a kind of white pergola with a similar cross-section, which extends over the entire width of the buil­ding. The columns discreetly hide the venti­la­tion shafts of the hotel bath­rooms, while the pergola serves above all for crea­ting a striking roof struc­ture and accom­mo­da­ting the LED lighting.

Valley tile series ensures design consis­tency

The cover of the pool edge, the pool surrounds, the outer side walls of the pool and the floors of the sun-decks are made of a wood-plastic compo­site mate­rial.

The archi­tects chose this wood-like mate­rial to create a diffe­ren­tiated tran­si­tion zone between the water basin and the nort­hern part of the roof area with lounge, bar and further deck chair areas.

The latter areas, as well as the clad­ding of the pools, are also provieded throug­hout with Agrob Buch­t­al’s Valley series, in the form of 2 cm thick, sand-beige patio tiles in the format of 60 x 60 cm with appro­priate slip-resis­tance. The laying was carried out on elevated posts: on the one hand, so that the rain­water – as before the conver­sion – can be coll­ected and drained in the space between the roof cons­truc­tion and the roof. On the other hand, in order to be able to open the floor easily for inspec­tion works.

Elegant roof land­scape as a new attrac­tion

The result of the cons­truc­tion works carried out exclu­si­vely during the winter closing time of the hotel is a homo­ge­neous, elegant roof land­scape conveying plea­sant expanse and sove­reign gene­ro­sity.

The opera­tors have thus achieved their goal: the Olympus Palace is the only hotel in Salou with such a diverse micro­cosm on the roof that is on ever­yo­ne’s lips today. The number of parti­ci­pants in music events has also increased noti­ce­ably. Both hotel guests and external visi­tors enjoy staying there – not only to sip cock­tails at the bar, but also to take insta­gram-suitable under­water photos at the pool.

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