Waechter Architecture hotel and spa incorporates redeveloped schoolhouse
by Stu Robarts | 25 Oct 2019
Waechter Architecture has created a 20,000sq ft (1,900sq m) hotel and spa complex called Society Hotel Bingen that incorporates a redeveloped schoolhouse into its design.
The development, which is in the Columbia River Gorge in the US, comprises twenty individual hotel cabins, a spa and bathhouse building and a sanctuary area.
The old schoolhouse contains 10 standard rooms and two 24-bed dormitories, as well as a library and a gym.
The building was originally constructed in 1908 and was rebuilt in 1937, with Waechter retrofitting it to retain as much of its original feel as possible.
The floors are all original to the building, with a combination of flooring salvaged from original classrooms used in the lobby area.
On the school's former playing fields, there is a ring of cabins with a shared cantilevered roof that creates porches and shared spaces, as well as doubling as the cover for a walkway.
At the centre of the cabins is a newly built spa and bathhouse, with a shared saltwater soaking pool, a sauna, a hot tub, a cold plunge pool and a café.
The newly-built structures are clad in aged cedar to ensure sympathy with the natural surroundings and the original buildings.
Firm principal Ben Waechter said: "One of our primary goals was to design a hotel that not only felt connected to the Gorge but amplified people’s experience of it. It's exciting to stand within the hotel and cabins today and feel the complementary dialogue between the two."
The project began in 2017 and was completed this summer.
Waechter Architecture hotel
Society Hotel Bingen covers 20,000sq ft (1,900sq m) Credit: Sean O’Connor
The project began in 2017 and was completed in summer 2019 Credit: Micah Cruver
The development is located in the Columbia River Gorge Credit: Micah Cruver
The main schoolhouse building contains 10 standard rooms and two 24-bed dormitories Credit: Sean O’Connor
Additional amenities include a library and a gym Credit: Sean O’Connor
Waechter Architecture has created a 20,000sq ft (1,900sq m) hotel and spa complex called Society Hotel Bingen that incorporates a redeveloped schoolhouse into its design. The development, which is in the Columbia River Gorge in the US, comprises twenty individual hotel cabins, a spa and bathhouse building and a sanctuary area. The old schoolhouse contains 10 standard rooms and two 24-bed dormitories, as well as a library and a gym.
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