Messinia ’s popular Costa Navarino Resort has been making headlines again thanks to its beach bar Barbouni, which features a cool and unique roof that has people worldwide mesmerised!
According to an article in CNN Travel, the recently posted video from Instagrammer @Levanterman who captured hypnotic footage of the undulating roof while visiting Costa Navarino has people worldwide wanting to visit the resort just to catch a close glimpse of the bar's unique architecture.
The restaurant was designed by Greek architectural design company K-Studio and the company says it was inspired by the incredible surrounding landscape.
Over the table area, an inverted field of hanging fabric sheets forms the canopy that sways soothingly in the dissipated wind, allowing air to circulate and the space to stay cool.
Throughout the day sunlight filters through the sheets, lighting and shading the space simultaneously. The animated ceiling resembles the waves on the beach and offers a rhythm to the restaurant, just like breathing.
The combination of these purposely designed and naturally occurring elements creates a multi-sensory architecture that sits in harmony with the environment.
"The architects took inspiration for the Barbouni roof from the dynamic and hypnotic movement of the waves of the sea in front of the restaurant," Costantza Sbokou-Constantakopoulou, the Senior Architect at TEMES, the developers behind Costa Navarino, tells CNN Travel.
Barbouni restaurant sits on a wooden platform and is composed of natural wooden columns. The idea is these natural materials, teamed with the rippling effect, help establish a fusion between sea and land.
The roof itself is made out of a specialised outdoor curtain fabric.
"We did loads of tests with fabric and different materials, in the beginning," explains Karampatakis. "We ended up with this fabric, outdoor fabric and played with that for a while until we figured out that we needed a thread that connects the bottom end and then makes this smooth motion when it was hit by the wind."
The ceiling ripples at different speeds depending on how windy it is that day.
"It is echoing exactly the landscape. So when there are loads of waves this is quite an animated ceiling and other times it's quite slow so it's quite fun," says Karampatakis.
"'Instagrammable' moments did not yet exist, but as they have become more popular the restaurant has become more widely admired," adds Sbokou-Constantakopoulou.
The beach bar's popularity on social media might be an accident, but for the Costa Navarino team, it's a happy one:
"The design of Barbouni together with the use of technology in photography and video, has had a very positive effect across social media, which we were very happy about!" says Sbokou-Constantakopoulou.
*Watch the video here-
*Source: CNN Travel