The Calamander Unawatuna Beach Resort is located on the southern tip of Sri Lanka, just one and a half hours from the capital city, Colombo. The resort looks out to the Unawatuna Beach, an endless stretch of golden sand framing a beautiful bay looking out to the Indian Ocean. Unawatuna Beach is the most spectacular beach on the island, so much so that it was declared the best beach in the world by Discovery Channel in 2004.
Type of intervention
A 500 m² pool, featuring soft and sinuous contours, with a connecting hydro-massage tub.
The pool and tub were both tiled with artistic red-coloured glass mosaic tiles, using the Starlike^®Arancio epoxy mortar.
The effect is particularly suggestive at night thanks to a delicate play on light, which enhances the forms of the structure, offering the composition a sense of elegance and exclusivity.
Materials used
The pool and tub were waterproofed using an Elastocem cementitious membrane with glass fibre mesh reinforcement. All of the mosaics used in making the swimming pool are by Sicis.
In order to make the artistic decoration with the turtle, on a red background in Sun 4 Murano, different colours of mosaic were used: Lichee- Glimmer, Zinnia1- Iridium, Date- Glimmer, Zinnia 2- Iridium, Sandalwood- Natural, Coral 3- Murano and Wenge – Natural.
The mosaics were glued using Litoplus K55, a superwhite high-performance cementitious adhesive (does not contain sand) with no vertical slip and extended open time, classified as C2TE according to standard EN 12004. Its special formulation makes it perfect for use in pools with any type of ceramic tiles, ceramic and glass mosaics and natural stone resistant against humidity and stains.
The joints were sealed using the epoxy sealant Starlike^®Arancio from the Glamour collection. Classified as RG (reactive grout) according to standard EN 13888, it features high chemical and mechanical resistance, improved adhesion to the sides of tiles or mosaics and zero absorption, totally waterproofing the grout and helping to protect the substrates. It is therefore longer lasting compared to normal cementitious sealants, drastically reducing the need for maintenance works.
Installer
The job was completed by Aditya Bee of Ritmo Impex in New Delhi, a company specialised in laying mosaics. Ritmo Impex is active all across the Asian continent.