Kimpton Aysla Mallorca: a benchmark of integration and respect for local values

It is not easy to explain the Kimpton project. There is no new construction, although there are new buildings. It is not a refurbishment, yet there are major renovations. It is not a hotel project, however a hotel is planned. It is not a social club, but it is part of a first-class sports complex.

Nevertheless, when we discover that Guillermo Reynés is leading the project, the matter starts to become simpler. If you add the guarantee offered by Llull Sastre in the construction, everything fits.

Kimpton Aysla Mallorca is the culmination of a dream that began at the Santa Ponsa Country Club, a social and sports club located inland on the coast of Calvià. The centre was closed in 2014 and a year later its refurbishment began. A new complex is built with tennis as the centrepiece, to the point that it is currently the venue for the ATP Mallorca Championship, a tournament on grass that has become a social and sporting reference for the whole island.

With the sports and social infrastructure in place, the development of the next phases of the Kimpton Aysla Mallorca project begins, with the initial foundations now joined by collaboration with the community and connection to local values.

Mucho más que un hotel

GRAS Reynés Arquitectos took on the challenge of creating a large resort, respectful of the landscape and Mallorcan traditions. The operation will create a large tourist, social and sports complex capable of combining a newly built hotel with 79 suites, a social club with three restaurants, a conference room, a multifunctional space for events, gym, spa, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, beauty treatment centre and a first-class sports centre with paddle and tennis courts capable of hosting professional tournaments. All of this with a large interior garden as a central axis, Kimpton Aysla Mallorca’s focal point.

The plot on which the complex sits is defined by a large interior garden, around which the different buildings are arranged. The original body of the building houses the common areas of the hotel and its public programmes, as well as the exclusive members’ club of the sports complex. The former tennis courts, now relocated a few metres away in the new complex, house the new hotel rooms. Both buildings are closed off while keeping the best secret of the project: a large interior garden for the exclusive use of guests.

The signature landscaping by MARE Paisajistas is one of the strong points of the new concept.

Tradition and modernity

With these premises, the Kimpton Aysla Mallorca becomes a perfectly recognisable space on the island: a set of landscapes and traditions of Mallorca brought together in a single space. The old Country Club building is the centrepiece: an old “possessió”, a typical Mallorcan manor house, surrounded by characteristic water features. On the one hand, the garden pond in the form of a “safareig”, a kind of rectangular pool intended for agricultural use, very typical of the island’s interior, and on the other, a sand pool, a small homage to the coast transported to the interior of the garden.

The new buildings are designed around the “clastra”, a large central courtyard that reinterprets the typical construction of Mallorcan manor houses. Private spaces, hidden from the eyes of others, from prying eyes, which enlarge the volumes and brighten the structures. The contrast between the new constructions and the existing ones is sought to emphasise the novelty without losing the reference to memory, which is basic to maintaining the essence.

A game of light and space

The connection between the new blocks and the old ones is made by means of a tunnel below ground level and a footbridge on the surface. The hotel’s reception area houses both constructions, materialising the communion between novelty and tradition in the hotel’s lobby, an unavoidable point of dialogue and meeting point for guests.

The hotel rooms are arranged around the central courtyard, which provides plenty of natural light and ventilation for all of them.

Their design is conceptually unique: they all have a side terrace, not a central terrace, as is common. This feature allows the bathrooms to be illuminated and ventilated in a natural way, giving them the possibility to become outdoor bathrooms and take advantage of the mild Mediterranean climate. The possibility of accessing the terrace directly from the shower is a luxury available to the privileged hotel guests. There are no closed interiors or exposed exteriors, but rather a communion of spaces that allow you to choose the most evocative option at the time.

Art, comfort and functionality

The rooms are the hallmark of the brand. They are committed to colour and a careful selection of furniture, unique pieces chosen by the designers. Terracotta pots and teak chairs are combined with works of art.

IHG Interior Design Team, in partnership with the local gallery Aba, have overseen the interior design and the selection of the artworks, commissioned to local artists, both painters and sculptors.

The hotel reception is in the existing building which, partly colonised by the new constructions, has been completely redesigned to create a new configuration of interconnected open spaces offering different independent solutions for hotel guests and members of the sports club.

A large green pergola invites you to enter and marks the beginning of the experience. A double-height space with three huge sculptural blocks as counters, designed by Regina Dejiménez, form the spectacular backdrop to the reception. The connection to the first floor is via an organic staircase clad in wood.

Next to the counters is the cocktail bar, a meeting place that serves both the indoor lounge and the front garden terrace. A must for those who are just starting out on their adventure and for those who have completed it. Around it, informal seating, ideal for a drink or a light lunch, with no strings attached.

SABA, the hotel’s main restaurant, is within walking distance. A combination of Spanish and Asian gastronomy, with an open kitchen and a glass structure that allows you to enjoy the garden and the outdoors all year round. Without a doubt, a reference for guests and visitors alike.

The flow into the common areas is distributed towards the sports club area, which has been kept as the original to differentiate hotel guests from club members. It has a meeting room, a fitness room, a premium beauty treatment centre and a SPA, managed by Maison Codage, with a large indoor pool and a smaller vitality pool.

The distribution of the different areas on two floors provides the necessary privacy and exclusivity for users, as well as allowing rationalisation of spaces and movement within the facilities.