Continental Hotel rejuvenation is now complete
The renewal and redevelopment of the Continental Sorrento is now complete.
Woods Bagot has put the final touches on its luxury and wellness component, the Aurora Spa and Bathhouse.
The Mornington Peninsula where the hotel affectionately known as the Conti sits, has a storied history as well as a long association with natural health including famous geothermal mineral springs.
The redesign of the hotel captures that association. It also evokes continental grandeur with a antipodean beachside sensibility.
Woods Bagot chief executive and lead architect Nik Karalis has described the redesign as “an amalgamation of the best of European with the whimsy of Australia”.
The Aurora Spa and Bathhouse was the last piece of the Continental puzzle.
“The correlation between heath and hotel is deeply rooted,” Karalis told The Hotel Conversation. “Hotels – and the caravanserais, abbeys and inns that predate them – have a long history of being places of refuge and recovery.”
According to Woods Bagot associate principal and lead interior designer Sarah Alessi, Aurora’s design invokes the ancient ritual of bathing.
“There is an antiquity about the materials, like limestone and copper, that even conjures a Mexican cenote,” Alessi said.
Aurora’s facilities include four mineral-rich pools - the daydream pool, reflexology pool, cold plunge pool and vitality pool – as well as a Nordic timber-lined sauna, a steam room, a salt room and a “glacial mist” chamber.
“The core idea was manipulating the various chemical states of water, from liquid to agitated bubbles, to steam and ice,” Alessi said.
Guests can expect curative water therapies including hydrotherapy, hot-cold contrast, halotherapy (a treatment involving breathing in salty air), and geothermally heated mineral baths.
Aurora finishes off the $120-million overhaul of the Conti by Woods Bagot. Designers and architects worked hard to restore and expand the existing facilities and create a contemporary feel while retaining the hotel’s heritage.
The hotel and 1930s extension was revived, while four new buildings housing a new signature restaurant, a public bar, beer garden, conservatory, speakeasy, pool club and spa and bathhouse were added.
Jonathan Jackson, 20th April 2023
