Therme Vals
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Therme Vals is the hotel/spa complex in Vals, built over the only thermal springs in the Graubünden canton in Switzerland.
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[edit] History
In the 1960s a German property developer, Karl Kurt Vorlop, built a hotel complex with over 1,000 beds to take advantage of the naturally occurring thermal springs and the source, which provides the water for Valser mineral water, sold throughout Switzerland.
The developer went bankrupt, and in 1983 the the village of Vals bought up the five hotels in the development and resolved to commission a hydrotherapy centre at the centre of the five hotels, at the source of the thermal springs.
Peter Zumthor was selected as architect for the spa, despite his limited track record at the time, and the facility was built between 1993-1996 at a cost of 24.4 million Swiss Francs. One of the concepts informing the design was the continuum of the springs, and by association, the baths – in effect the baths were designed to look as if they pre-dated the hotel complex, as if they were a form of cave or quarry-like structure. This is particularly evident from observing the grass roof structure of the baths, which resemble the foundations an archaeological site, and reveal the form of the various bath rooms which lie below, half buried into the hill-side.
Today the Hotel und Thermalbad AG (Hoteba) company is 100% owned by the Vals community.
[edit] Construction of the Spa
In 1986 the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor was commissioned to build a new spa which was opened in 1996.
Built using locally-quarried Valser quarzite slabs, the spa building is made up of 15 different table-like units, 5 metres in height, with cantilevered concrete roof units supported by tie-beams. These units fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The nature of the construction is revealed through close inspection of the roof – the roofs of the units don’t join, but are covered by glass to prevent water ingress through the 8cm gaps. Inside, this provides a dichotomy – the concrete makes the roof appear heavy but the gaps between the units also makes the roof appear to float.
There are 60,000, 1 metre-long sections of stone forming the cladding of the walls. Whilst these initially appear random, like an ashlar wall, there is a regular order. The cladding stones are of three different heights, but the total of the three is always 15cm, so it allows for variety in arrangement, whilst facilitating construction.
Zumthor initially resisted pressure to include clocks within the spa, on the grounds that he believed that time should be suspended whilst enjoying the baths, but three months after the baths opened, the architect relented to pressure from the client by the mounting of two small clocks on the end of brass posts within the spa.
Thermes Vals was the first structure in Switzerland to be granted listed building status within two years of its construction.
[edit] Spa Facilities
The entrance to the spa is via the hotel, via a tunnel dug through the mountain. The spa is built around two large pools, a covered one in the centre of the building, and an external bath, and is fed by the thermal springs at 32°c. There are numerous other smaller, more intimate baths located around the central internal pool, varying from a 14°c "Ice Pool" to the 42°c "Fire Pool". One bath is scented with rose petals (33°c), another has water jets, secreted by a low entrance virtually only high enough to swim under. There are also six hammams of varying heat and relative humidity (from 85%-100% relative humidity). Different lighting in each room reflects their function.
The spa can accommodate 150 people, and is open to the general public from 11h00. Hotel guests have free access and can also benefit from early morning swimming before the general public (from 07h00). The baths close at 20h00 but on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays there is silent night-swimming between 22h30 and 00h00, again, exclusively for hotel guests. Residents of Vals also have privileged access.
[edit] Hotel Facilities
The hotel's rooms are split into four 'houses'. The main house contains 39 new rooms known as the "Temporaries". There is an enclosed walkway from the main house to the 3 other houses: Selva, Zerfreila and Tomül.
Zumthor has updated the interior design of 40 rooms within the Selva Building of the hotel complex.
The hotel's "Red Restaurant" has Urs Dietrich as Chef de Cuisine.
