The fact that the Myconian Ambassador has been running since 1979 owes much to its incredible location on Mykonos’s Gialos beach and lovely panorama of the sea and distant islands and rocky outcrops.
For the Lebanese-based architect, Galal Mahmoud who has been coming to Mykonos since he was a child, the opportunity to refurbish the hotel was one tinged with pleasure, professional challenges, and personal debt. ‘During the conflict in Lebanon in 2006, the owner told me I could stay for as long as I wanted and even set up my office there,’ says the French-trained Mahmoud.The arrangement lasted nearly six years and marked the beginning of a very close friendship between architect and client.
The project has returned the 69-room Myconian – its sturdy silhouette of tessellated white cubes that are linked Escher-like by angular staircases – to one of gleaming white prominence in the neighbourhood. Granted, Grecian tropes loom large, not least the blue and white colour theme, but depth and warmth have been added by way of Thassos marble, tropical hardwoods, and splashes of pastel hued Marimekko-like fabric.
Widely proportioned windows and mirrors provide views of the unending horizon. The effect is one of a vertiginous, light-washed aerie.
ADDRESS
Platis Gialos
Mykonos
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