Relaxation Generator

A hotel built in an old power station reflects the ongoing renewal of a beautiful coast town.

- Bruce Dennill

From the air, the approach to George Airport is one of the more attractive in the country, and the same can be said of the drive from there to Knysna via Wilderness and Sedgefield and the beautiful beaches, rivers, lakes, and lagoon that accessorize those towns.

It’s clear how far the devastating fires of 2018 extended, but all is green again now, and the relative openness of the terrain brings the profound beauty of the untouched fragments of forest and orchard and wetland into sharper focus, making you appreciate what is old and new simultaneously.

Driving into Knysna – particularly if you haven’t been there for a while – the effect is similar. The once rustic coastal village shows off its layers of development as you head into town, with Thesen Island, previously the site of a huge timber processing plant and now reimagined as accommodation, retail, dining and high-end housing destination, probably the starkest measure of the difference between Knysna’s past and present.

Factory settings

The Turbine Boutique Hotel and Spa now fills the space once occupied by a power station fuelled by the wood pulp created by the timber industry, and the design incorporates the original boilers and generators used to generate electricity up until as recently as 2001.

The result is fascinating. It’s like Charlie & The Chocolate Factory was edited by Condé Nast.

There are odd layers, with weird mezzanine levels designed to fit into the shell of the old station and to fit the geography of the island and the irregular shapes of the giant machines.