Upgrading of Hotel Terme

Design: The hotel was built forty years ago a part of the spa and holiday complex Čatež in eastern Slovenia. The vertical extension of the building, originally built with masonry and concrete, was only possible using timber since the foundation of the existing building was already overloaded in parts. The extension with lightweight material increased the capacity of the hotel by two full floors. At the same time, the hotel was extensively refurbished, upping its category by one star. The hotel, an important employer in the region, is now an attractive destination for guests again.

Wood: Engineers and architects cooperated to develop a solution for adding two more storeys to the existing building. With the chosen approach, using the lightweight construction material cross-laminated timber, the two new storeys only weigh 6% of the existing four floors. Even a third storey was calculated to be possible. The load of the extension is rerouted through the new cross-laminated timber walls, serving as beams, to structurally more sound segments of the existing building. This way, the building still meets the required standards for buildings in seismically active areas. A structural retrofitting of the existing building was not necessary.