The historical center of Batumi with almost 200-year-old buildings preserved by Georgian, Turkish, Italian, Russian craftsmen is very unusual and colorful, loved by the townspeople and visited by tourists. Cobbled streets lined with old two- and three-story houses with tiled roofs, courtyards and quaint balconies fit into the space of just a few blocks with shops and cozy cafes. This is where the Piazza hotel is located. The architect Vazha Orbeladze, who completed her project, was faced with the task of maintaining the scale of the new building to the surroundings and paying special attention to the decoration of the facades and the roof.
The hotel complex creates a well-readable dominant for the historic center: it is a tall clock tower surrounded by two- and three-story buildings that form an inner courtyard. Thanks to the arcade galleries open to the adjacent streets, decorated with plafond paintings and mosaic panels, as well as stained glass windows on the facades by the Estonian artist Dolores Hoffmann, the hotel courtyard with café tables and expensive boutiques is perceived as a small square, which has already become a favorite resting place for townspeople and tourists. as well as holding concerts of world "stars". The architectural prototype of the complex is quite obvious, and its name once again emphasizes its connection with the Piazza San Marco in Venice.
A special place in the project is occupied by attics and roofs. Both complex oval windows and large areas of the roof itself, as well as high requirements for the structural and aesthetic qualities of the roofing material posed a difficult task, which was successfully implemented thanks to the use of titanium-zinc coating. The RHEINZINK diamond-shaped flakes, made for this project in two colors on the inclined visible parts of the mansard roof, perfectly dock not only with the upper leaf segments, but also freely bypass the curved shapes of the window openings.
It should also be noted the ideal geometry and thoughtfulness of the joints and locking profiles of individual diamond-shaped parts, which allow covering not only flat, but also convex roofs, which is clearly seen in the example of the balcony of the third floor overlooking the open terrace of the restaurant. The unique properties of titanium-zinc include protection from climatic influences harmful to the roof, which are so characteristic of the Black Sea coast, where a subtropical climate with temperature contrasts and heavy rainfall in winter is combined with air saturated with sea salt. Titanium-zinc also made it possible to achieve full-fledged evening lighting for the entire complex due to its moderately matte and non-polluting surface.
In conclusion, I would like to say about some more properties of this material. RHEINZINK rightly points out that the service life of titanium-zinc coatings is measured in generations, while the material is environmentally friendly and completely recyclable. RHEINZINK material with a natural patinated surface, supplied in rolls and sheets as a semi-finished product or as finished shaped products, allows you to implement any architectural ideas and solve complex problems, including in the conditions of historical buildings and during the restoration of architectural monuments. In combination with roof gutters and snow retention systems, RHEINZINK offers comprehensive, innovative solutions for the construction and renovation of pitched roofs.
