Places of refuge are always associated with monasteries - isolated buildings, well merged in the landscape and transmitting a sense of mystical detachment. Their interior, however, is often friendly, exhibiting a certain degree of openness and encouraging a good place to reassess your life and your cosmic being.

            Located on the eastern slopes of Mount Canaan, a structure revealing-yet-merging in the surroundings awakened my curiosity. The only "logical" explanation for its location (I thought) in a desolate spot in the middle of a forest was that it was a religious building.

            The winding path leading to it off the settlement of "Amuka", ends at a locked gate - further strengthening the assumption that this "mysterious place" is intended only for a chosen few. A brief investigation revealed that it is actually a guest house with a strict "admission policy": extremely high rates and "no children" evidently ensure that only a select few can enter the "haven" of Naomi and Yishai Grossman.

            "We wanted to create a place of refuge from our intense and pressured life, without the exhausting need to pass through the airport. A place where one can find all the conveniences, peace and comfort that one associates with select locations abroad. A place that peeks at the landscape but is also assimilated in it, a "magical" place where one can smell and breathe the Galilee. Hence, the intentionally long way that leads around the flowery forest hints to the final charming destination. Not another glorified and noisy "Zimmer spa", but an age old tranquility that justifies the efforts.

            Domain Galil is a small place with 24 rooms, but many magic spaces where one can find ones own corner of relaxation. The place was designed to its finest detail by Naomi. "We faced lots of bureaucracy and restrictions along the way, and here and there we needed to compromise. At first we intended naturally to create an interior courtyard, but eventually chose to allow each room maximum access to the view, without losing the element of privacy."

            The dream, planning and construction took over ten years, and obviously left some Post-Modern remnants that can be seen in the use of stone cladding and sometimes too colorful lighting - easily forgiven due to a rather restrained use of forms and compatibility with the environment. The design makes an effort to transmit "homeliness" while successfully avoiding the over-eager and banal genre of a typical "Zimmer in the Galilee".

Design: Naomi Grossman.