Studio Gypsandconcrete Wraps Lopota Lake Resort’s Reception in Memory and Materiality.

A glass-wrapped hotel reception in Georgia’s wine country draws on the memory of a former rose plantation, weaving rosewood, copper and locally sourced marble into a quietly powerful welcome.

Nestled within the grounds of Lopota Lake Resort & Spa in Kakheti—the heart of Georgia’s celebrated wine region — this new reception space by Tbilisi-based Studio Gypsandconcrete is an exercise in restraint, materiality and deep site awareness. It’s the kind of project where every surface has a reason for being there, and the architecture feels less like a building and more like a carefully composed threshold between landscape and interior life.

The reception is almost entirely glass-bound, a move that allows the surrounding greenery to become an active participant in the space rather than a backdrop. Light shifts freely throughout the day, and the boundary between inside and outside is deliberately blurred—reinforced by curtains inspired by the movement of water that flow gently through the interior, softening the geometry.

What gives this project its emotional weight is its connection to what came before. The site was once home to a rose plantation, and that history is subtly embedded in the material palette. Rosewood veneer traces the walls and custom furniture, while softly blushed copper surfaces wrap key elements in warmth. Rather than mere decorative choices, they’re acts of remembrance, grounding a contemporary space in the specificity of place.

At the centre, the main reception desk sits on locally sourced marble blocks, introducing a sense of permanence amid all that transparency. It’s a grounding moment in a space that otherwise feels light and fluid. The first point of contact for arriving guests is a drinks station and local wine shelf crafted from copper and reddish wood, flanking both sides of the entrance vitrage—an immediate introduction to the material language and a nod to Georgian hospitality and winemaking culture.

Sustainability is woven into the approach without fanfare. Leather surfaces used across lounge seating are sourced from leftover materials, turning reuse into refinement. Stainless steel details on lounge chairs and polished marble slabs on the guest relations desk capture and scatter light, creating shifting visual depth as people move through the space.

Carpets are placed in unexpected compositions—introducing informality and movement while subtly guiding circulation. Every piece of furniture has been designed exclusively for this project, born from context, materials and memory.

It’s a reception space that does what the best hospitality design should: it makes you feel like you’ve arrived somewhere specific, somewhere considered, somewhere that couldn’t exist anywhere else.

[Images courtesy of Studio Gypsandconcrete. Photography by Grigory Sokolinsky.]