Just 50 meters from the beach, Hotel Palanga is to be found in one of the pine forests that pepper Lithuania’s Baltic coast. Architect Donatas Rakauskas embraced the entire ground floor in a full-length glazed façade, letting the wood’s atmospheric lighting and the vastness of the sea into the building and affording guests in the lobby and spa areas a direct view of the surrounding landscape. In summer the beach and outdoor terrace entice guests out into the great outdoors, while in winter the heated spa area offers guests refuge from the cold with a wonderful view of the snowy landscape.

The setting also proved decisive in the choice of materials and colors. The hotel’s generously sized rooms are dominated by natural materials with complexly structured surfaces. The natural surroundings also influenced the choice of Norwegian quartzite and white marble for the interior, rounded off with cedar and olivewood. This is continued outside with loungers and other outdoor furniture by Paola Lenti, which fit in perfectly with their often handmade covers boasting quality that becomes evident with just one touch. But it is above all the color palette that has been inspired by the light of the North. The seating landscapes, armchairs and cushions outside provide a mix of gray and blue tones, not an especially cheerful, summery color scheme, but it must be said, here in this place it reflects the subtly summery color graduations of the Baltic sea and the vast blue sky that crowns it wonderfully. On the interior the color scheme sets off the natural stone elements with gray and brown hues, creating a very harmonious overall impression. But despite the traditional look of the woven material, which works extremely well with the natural materials around it, it is in fact made of high-tech yarn that defies almost any kind of weather, the sun, and even chlorine.