Press Release
Bronze A' Design Award in Hospitality, Recreation, Travel and Tourism Design Goes to Cooks Alanya Club Hotel by Muge Alanay Gucuoglu
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Muge Alanay Gucuoglu for hospitality, recreation, travel and tourism design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 21, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Cooks Alanya Club Hotel by Muge Alanay Gucuoglu, designed for Nom Architecture, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Hospitality, Recreation, Travel and Tourism Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Cooks Alanya Club Hotel
Cooks Club Alanya emerges as a choreography between Mediterranean tranquility and urban rhythm. A distributed network of spaces replaces the singular resort core, enabling a seamless transition from shaded, serene daytime environments to vibrant, illuminated evening atmospheres. Guest rooms provide a calm Mediterranean retreat through soft tones and natural textures. Boundaries dissolve toward the sea, while seamless indoor outdoor continuity strengthens the connection to the coast. The architecture embodies a dynamic rhythm of calm, social interaction, and coastal resilience.
About Muge Alanay Gucuoglu
Muge Alanay Gucuoglu earned her degree in Architecture from Middle East Technical University and completed her master’s studies at the same institution, focusing on building systems and performance. Her work is shaped by close attention to the Mediterranean climate - its light, shade, and everyday outdoor rituals. For her, architecture begins with understanding people. She judges a space not only by how it photographs, but by how it performs throughout the day - how it guides movement and supports comfort without friction. That is why she treats architecture and interiors as one: from planning to materials, from detailing to atmosphere, every layer serves a single story.
Award Record
With this recognition, Muge Alanay Gucuoglu is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards. All of the awards belong to the 2025 - 2026 edition of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Hospitality, Recreation, Travel and Tourism Design Award
The A' Hospitality Design Award is an international hospitality design competition recognizing good hospitality designs by best hospitality designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to hospitality designers, architects, hospitality brands and hotel chains from all countries. Entries typically include hotels, restaurants, resorts, cafes, bars and cruise ships. Awarded hospitality designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/hospitality
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/181186
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/181186
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!181186
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/370452
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://bit.ly/4rBHpe4
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Cooks Alanya Club Hotel
- Function
- Club Hotel
- Category
- Hospitality, Recreation, Travel and Tourism Design
- Discipline
- Service Design
- Industry
- Food & Hospitality and Sports
- Colors
- Teal, Linen, Dark Cyan, Dark Olive Green and Maroon
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Nom Architecture
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Muge Alanay Gucuoglu
- Country
- Turkiye
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #181186
Credits
- Image Credits
- All images Engin Aydeniz. All rights Nom Architecture.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Cooks Club Alanya reimagines the seaside resort as a distributed spatial network rather than a centralized complex. Social nodes shift in intensity from calm daytime retreats to vibrant nighttime settings, reflecting the dialogue between Mediterranean serenity and urban rhythm. Raw concrete, timber and natural textures define a tactile slow glamour atmosphere, while seamless indoor–outdoor continuity and durable materials respond to the coastal climate.
- Inspiration
- Cooks Club Hotel Alanya is shaped by the tension between Mediterranean calm and urban rhythm. The project rejects a centralized resort model, proposing instead a network of social stations that create shifting intensities from day to night. Raw concrete, wood, and natural textures define a tactile slow glamour style. Open air continuity toward the sea dissolves boundaries, redefining the resort as a spatial choreography of tempo, retreat and collective energy.
- Research
- Prior to the project, coastal building typologies were examined through multi-layered analysis. Climate data, salt exposure, wind, solar orientation and coastal morphology informed durability-driven design decisions. Materials were selected through comparative life cycle assessment. Guest and service circulation were tested via schematic scenarios. Investment and operational costs were evaluated through cost performance analysis.
- Challenge
- At acquisition, the hotel lacked a cohesive identity; interiors, frontage, outdoor areas, and landscape were fragmented and disconnected. The project unified these elements under a single architectural vision, creating a holistic spatial narrative. Designed for a harsh coastal climate of wind, salt, and humidity, durable and sustainable materials were prioritized. Multiple service nodes replaced a single line, improving flexibility, efficiency, and user experience.
- Realization and Technology
- When acquired, the property operated as a hotel, yet its interiors, frontage, outdoor areas, and landscape lacked a cohesive identity. The project redefined all components under a unified architectural concept, redesigning and implementing them from scratch. Ten room typologies including Pool Suite, Terrace Suite, Sea View, and Standard etc were introduced. As a Cooks Club franchise, the development was conceptualized in alignment with brand guidelines while establishing a distinct spatial character.
- Operation and Interaction
- Rejecting the conventional single core resort model, circulation is structured as a distributed network shaping temporal rhythms of use. Public spaces shift from shaded, tranquil daytime flows to intensified evening atmospheres through program and light. Guest rooms offer a calm Mediterranean retreat in soft tones and natural textures. Exposed concrete is softened by timber and reclaimed elements, while seamless indoor outdoor continuity ensures coastal resilience.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in September 2022 and finished in May 2023 in Alanya, Turkey.
- Specifications
- The project comprises 20,000 sqm of enclosed space and 5,000 sqm of semi-open and open areas. Designed as an adults-only resort, it includes 236 guestrooms across 10 typologies. Program elements feature three outdoor pools, one indoor pool, a beach area with 100 sunbeds, a wellness-spa and gym. Dining venues include Kantina, Captain Cooks Bar, a beach club bar, honesty bar, Irish pub, and Mexican pub creating a diverse social and culinary landscape.
- Keywords
- hotel, interior design, hotel design, hospitality design, hotel interiors
