URLAUBSARCHITEKTUR | HOLIDAYARCHITECTURE — the European network dedicated to architecturally remarkable holiday properties since 2007 — has released its new publication, Dream in Progress. Rather than celebrating polished outcomes, the book makes a case for process, colour, and creative courage, positioning itself in deliberate contrast to the monochrome minimalism that dominates most architectural publishing today. As the editors put it: "Nice is lukewarm."
Across 210 visually layered pages, sixteen hotels and holiday houses across Europe are presented not as completed objects but as living narratives of change.
The selection moves from the raw industrial character of Trevarefabrikken on Norway's Lofoten Islands to the Tuscan farmstead Colle ai Lecci near Siena; from Fowlescombe Farm within the Dartmoor landscape — where luxury hospitality is reinterpreted through an architectural lens — to The El Paso on the Canary island of La Palma, a music-driven hotel founded by a former chairman of Universal Music. Each project began as a former farmhouse, overlooked structure, or industrial ruin, and became something altogether more vital through experimentation and creative trust.
The book itself is conceived as an experience rather than a reference: non-linear, tactile, and energetic, designed to be opened at any point and explored in any direction.
Developed in close dialogue with internationally recognised artist Jana Gunstheimer, Dream in Progress expands beyond the conventions of an architectural monograph.
Her limited-edition screen print "Lost in Transformation" — produced in Berlin and available as a signed artwork (70 × 50 cm) — accompanies the volume, with elements of the work appearing across the cover, which is issued in eight embossed and screen-printed variants.
The collaboration between editorial team, artist, and graphic design makes the publication itself a work in progress: "art in progress in the truest sense."
The new volume continues URLAUBSARCHITEKTUR's established book series, shifting focus from typologies and destinations toward the broader themes of transformation, optimism, and the courage to build differently.
***
Photos courtesy of URLAUBSARCHITEKTUR
comment