SAN PELLEGRINO
THERMAL BATHS
BERGAMO
ITALY, 2008
HOSPITALITY
PR–362
In San Pellegrino, the architectural design for a new spa center emerges from the landscape, interacting with the mountains and extending the existing scenery.
GALLERY
023
PROGRAM
The 40 000 m² development is home to the thermal baths of San Pellegrino, a town in northern Italy renowned for its sparkling mineral water, and also includes a five-star hotel, luxury shops, upscale housing, and office space.
DETAIL
Situation
San Pellegrino thermal baths, San Pellegrino, Italy
Year
2008
Status
International competition, winning project, no follow-up
Site area
35 000 m²
Project area
40 000 m² (+ 40 000 m² parking)
Project management
Sviluppo San Pellegrino SRL, Bergamo
Project implementation
Dominique Perrault Architecte
Design offices
Arup
DESCRIPTION
The building draws inspiration from nature and alpine landscapes, through the composition of large mineral volumes, fragmented and arranged freely, evoking a glacial scree shaped by time. A terrace-belvedere jacket, designed as a hanging garden overlooking the valley, structures the entire project. Both a place of transition and unity, it brings together the diversity of the architecture and reveals its contrasts, connecting the buildings to the landscape.
EN SAVOIR PLUS
This architectural style, deliberately free and instinctive, is part of the site’s collective memory, evoking familiar natural forms. Like shards or crystals embedded in rock, the glass surfaces are encrusted in the erratic blocks. Far from being simple openings, they take the form of contemporary stained glass windows, filtering light and diffusing soft hues into the interior spaces. The thermal baths are thus bathed in a colorful and soothing light, conducive to well-being, contemplation, and meditation. This interior poetry contrasts with the mineral, almost telluric force of the exterior architecture. The whole finds its balance in a relationship of osmosis with the mountainside and the surrounding park, leaning against one while fully integrating into the other.
RELATED PROJECTS
















