Lopota Lake Resort & Spa, a 60-hectare family-owned resort on the shores of Lopota Lake in Georgia’s Kakheti wine region, today announces that construction is due to begin on a new multipurpose hall, designed as a collaborative project by Tbilisi-based practices About Architecture, led by Vano Ksnelashvili, Studio Gypsandconcrete, led by Lado Lomitashvili, and Ruderal, led by Sarah Cowles, with architectural research platform Paradeigma, led by Irakli Panchulidze, supporting the project’s early conceptual and material direction. Conceived as an extension of the resort and its landscape rather than a standalone building, the lakeside events and gathering space will accommodate 750–800 people, with groundworks beginning this month and completion anticipated within approximately one year.
Designed as a “choreographic village” of symmetrical pavilions gathered beneath one continuous linear roof, the hall takes its logic from the rural architecture around it — houses, gates, façades and paths — reinterpreted at the scale of celebration and gathering. The roof’s lowered perimeter softens the building’s presence on the landscape and shelters informal spaces along its edges, while reinforced, pigmented concrete surfaces take their colour and mass from the surrounding terrain and vineyards.
At its centre, an adaptable, plaza-like hall, which can be reconfigured with movable acoustic curtains to suit gatherings of different scale and character, from private celebrations to conferences, and is lit naturally throughout the day by openings cut into the roof and surrounding circulation lobbies.
The project brings together a Georgian design team whose combined work spans architecture, landscape, furniture and research:
- About Architecture (Vano Ksnelashvili) – the Tbilisi-based studio behind the architectural concept and detailed design, from the buildings relationship to the landscape and overall site strategy to its spatial organisation, materiality and architectural detailing.
- Studio Gypsandconcrete (Lado Lomitashvili) – the Tbilisi-based studio designing custom furniture, objects and lighting for the hall’s interior and exterior spaces, including bespoke seating bar elements and stage related pieces.
- Ruderal (Sarah Cowles) – the Tbilisi-based landscape architecture practice shaping the surrounding grounds and exterior lighting.
- Paradigm (Irakli Panchulidze) – the architectural research platform that supports the project’s early conceptual and material direction through precedent studies, material research and model-based investigation.
The new hall will add a dedicated space for weddings, celebrations and conferences to Lopota Lake Resort & Spa’s existing offer, which includes its own vineyard and winery, Château Buera, a forest-view spa, and horseback riding, cycling and wine touring across the estate.
Ana Maisuradze, Co-Owner of Lopota Lake Resort & Spa says “This hall lets us expand what we can offer at Lopota — a space built for weddings, celebrations and conferences that didn’t exist here before. And we’re proud that, once again, we’re able to build it with Georgian designers and architects who understand this land and Lopota in a way that can’t be taught. That’s what makes a space feel like it belongs here rather than just being placed here, and it’s something we’ll keep doing as Lopota grows.”
The multipurpose hall is the latest in a series of construction and renovation projects Lopota has undertaken on-site over the past few years -— including the renovation of several accommodation buildings and the resort’s dining hall, and the introduction of a grand Jazz Club and an aqua park — all done as part of a longer-term ambition to cement the resort’s status as a true design hotel and bring its facilities in line with the standards of leading international hospitality destinations. For the Maisuradze family, the project also reflects a wider commitment to bringing something genuinely new to Kakheti — a region they are eager to see recognised as an emerging destination for design, culture and slow travel, alongside its long history as the heart of Georgian winemaking.
Project Credits:
Structural – Capiteli;
MEP – Meppers;
Acoustics – Akustico;
Construction management – LSG Solutions.
Project team at About Architecture: Vano Ksnelashvili, Nikoloz Maisuradze, Nikoloz Tsagareishvili, Irakli Panchulidze, Eka Kankava, Anastasia Bughadze.
