Network of Architecture has turned a former monastery in Italy into the Monastero Arx Vivendi hotel by conserving and refreshing the interiors, and inserting a series of glazed spa rooms into its gardens.
Italian studio Network of Architecture (NOA) worked closely with the Trento Office of Cultural Heritage to transform half of the 17th-century complex in Arco, near Lake Garda, into the Monastero Arx Vivendi hotel. A separate church and cloister on the site remain occupied by nuns.
Half of the walled monastery has been turned into a hotel
Comprised of common areas and 40 guest rooms alongside a newly-constructed wellness area, the retrofit sought to retain and build on as many of the original features as possible, including a seven-metre high wall that surrounds the entire complex. "The majesty and rigour of the architecture, the long corridors, the vaulted ceilings, all of these features combine to give these spaces a real olde-worlde feel," said project architect Francesco Padovan.
"Every construction choice, every material and detail has been studied to draw on the majesty of the pre-existing context."
The 17th-century monastery has been restored
On the ground floor of the monastery are the common areas, including a reception, breakfast room, bar and kitchen, which sit beneath original rib-vault ceilings.
These areas have been restored and covered with a rippled antique-effect plaster, with new concrete floors built atop the old.

Stone, wrought ir...