In June 2021, a new archipelago hotel in Barösund, Inkoo opened its doors. Located an hour’s drive west of Helsinki, The Barö is situated right on the coast and all hotel rooms are located in separate wooden houses for maximum privacy. The hotel complex was designed to fit the unique environment and to have minimal impact on it.

The Barösund region of Inkoo on the Finnish south coast is sometimes forgotten by travelers who instead visit the more renowned capital of Finland – Helsinki. Hidden in this magnificent archipelago, which features ancient coastlines and untouched pine forests, is The Barö – an extraordinary new getaway that has raised the bar for luxury forest hotels.

Designed by Macao Design, the hotel shows visitors the magnificent nature of the Finnish archipelago whilst elevating the whole archipelago tourism to the next level. According to the architects, the hotel owners emphasized zero-emissions in terms of the building materials. Further, by building in locallysourced wood, the hotel blends well into its natural surroundings.

Netta and Jussi Paavoseppä, the owners of the hotel stated: “We built The Barö in four and a half months, and we barely touched the forest. You can tell from the wildlife. During longer building projects, deer will alter their routes – but all the local fauna is still here.”

Due to strict local planning regulations, the total building footage that was allowed was quite small. In the first phase, a total of 520 square meters was built. This included 12 high-class luxury cottages similar to hotel rooms, a restaurant, a reception and the sauna building.

According to Lena Weckström, Partner and Architect at Macao Design, the use of every square meter had to be thought out very carefully. The correct placement of buildings was also very important. The buildings had to be placed as if they were part of nature.

“A very exact 3D model was made of the topography and the buildings were placed with extreme care. The pre-fabrication and lifting of the buildings were also successful and nature remained untouched – after all, that was the starting point for the whole project,” stated Weckström.

The decision to use solid logs as the main building material was a natural choice for many reasons. Firstly, Finland has a long history of log construction; both the technical solutions and the quality of the wood is top class. Both spruce and pine are used, but in this case the logs were made of spruce.

Using solid logs also allowed for thinner outer walls in comparison to a traditional layered solution that would have required a lot of insulation in order to comply with Finnish insulation requirements. Owing to the thinner outer walls, the usable indoor space could be maximized.

Given that the buildings stand quite close to each other, fire protection also had to be taken into consideration. As the solid log walls complied with existing fire regulations, no extra fire protection was needed for the walls.

As an architectural feature, the facades were clad with charred wood. According to the architects, the charring ensured the facades were finished with a vertical direction that fits perfectly with the upward motion of the surrounding tree trunks.

The owners had a choice of different burning grades. In selecting the deepest burn, the facades have a very interesting black-silvery surface. This type of ‘natural’ black behaves different from painted wood and sinks perfectly into the surroundings.

The sensitive nature of the site was a huge consideration during construction. Instead of turning the whole area into a construction site, all buildings were prefabricated and then transported to the site and lifted by cranes onto poles that were drilled into the rock. The largest building that was lifted in place as a single piece was 100 square meters in size.

All buildings are raised on stilts and connected by floating boardwalks. These were built during the construction phase to steer all traffic to these areas and allow for nature to stay untouched. According to Weckström, the main attraction of the site was the stunning nature and so everyone involved was very careful about not spoiling it.

Despite The Barö being surrounded by nature, it’s not swallowed by it. Significantly, the hotel’s harmony with nature strikes a balance and the hotel is able to offer both nature and indulgence, a rare feat in the world of luxury eco-tourism and one that will undoubtedly attract more visitors in the years to come.