As the world is facing a pandemic crisis, people are confined within their designated space with many restrictions. Although this new setting may have created a monotony in experiential pursuits, it also has created many opportunities for different design methodologies.

For chief designer Alexey Gulesha at Sivak+Partners, this is a chance to share his vision of an architectural composition that he had imagined for a boutique beach hotel room in Odessa, Ukraine. The interior, which is inspired by James Bond films from the 1980s, has a cinematic atmosphere with a slight futurist undertone—both communicated via a minimalist design language. Not devoid of some decorative fixtures, the space still emits a sense of airiness and refinement due to its boundless restraints—a state that can only be achieved through imagination.

A singular stone surface runs expansively to cover both the floor and rounded walls, up structural columns with no sight of intersecting seams, and into a burrowed circular bathtub that’s lying like a crater in stillness. The rippled water surface reflects ocean waves from across a full-height and full-width window to reveal a breathtaking landscape that converges into a thin line of horizon. Cascading white curtains occasionally hinder the majestic view with their softness and translucency, bringing in a velvety body of natural light.

The singularity of surface treatment is countered with instances of “tactile contrast”, in the words of Gulesha. Moments like a woolly rug being inserted beneath a voluminous bed covered in linen fabrics, two glass Ghost chairs by designer Cini Boeri being put side-by-side overlooking the seashore, or metallic accents being present throughout the entire space help layer this hotel suite with a depth of monochromatic hues. Thin sheets of stainless steel stands vertically functioning as sinks and lies horizontally acting as desks add a sleekness in reference to the fictional Secret Service agent, heightening the difference with the organic formation of the space.

Opposing to realising built space, the act of delivering architectural hypotheses—radical or not—is an act of defying the constant need for developments. To sit back and imagine, like Alexey Gulesha and his image for Beach Hotel in Odessa, is to immerse oneself in comprehensive thoughts and come up with a utopian illustration for the contemporary contexts.