Fleur Muris

Refugium: Walking Motionless
A hotel in the Limburg hill country

‘State highway people bore me. I am bored on the asphalt concrete between the milestones. These people are on their way to something particular: to profit, aiming for their ambitions. On the footpaths hazel bushes instead of milestones. Strolling to find nuts; One is there to be With every step one is there to be there , not somewhere else’
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
The above-mentioned poem and my ‘youthwalk’, a walk I have taken many times with my father, form the concept of this project.
Designing a hotel, called Refugium, where serenity, silence, recovery, confrontation, and
exchange are at the forefront in the shape of physical and psychological activities. Target groups are the figurative footpathman, the peace seeker, and the literal footpathman, the
pilgrim. The Refugium is situated in the Dutch Limburg hill country, in Wijlre.
The design is characterized by the absorption in and use of the surroundings; spatial framing is hereby used by the available landscape elements (two graften, [plantings of
shrubs and trees on steep edges] and two hollow roads, the meander shape, embedded in the slope, the choices of material and underground and aboveground volumes.
The concept of the footpathman has meticulously been implemented in the design. The visitor is exposed to the world of the senses: wonderful panoramic views, intimate patios, sightlines,
changes of horizon, reflections of light and sound, direct and indirect ways, stationes (places to stand still) extravert and introvert spaces. There is the possibility to make contact or to turn in
upon oneself, being physically or psychologically busy and to get in touch with the rich culture and nature in the surroundings. In the Refugium the visitor smells the meals, feels the warmth of
the fire place, hears the whistling of the birds and tastes the regional products.
With every step one is there to be there, not somewhere else.
Fleur Muris

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