"Ailama" is an alpine camp in the gorge of the mountain river Koruldashi. It was the most popular among all alpine camps of Georgia. The alpine camp is located in a picturesque gorge at an altitude of about 2000 meters. A unique feature of the territory is warmer and more humid climate, which is due to its location on the southern slope of the Main Caucasus Range. A huge variety of beautiful mountain peaks and passes make this area highly attractive for tourists and climbers.
On the north side, the territory borders on the former arsenic processing factory, and even further begins the glacier at the foot of mountain Ailama (height 4546 meters), which gave the name to the alpine camp. The relief of the territory is quite calm, without sharp elevation changes, the slope runs along the longer side of the territory from north to south. The alpine camp stand along the road connecting Lower Svaneti (Kvemo Svaneti) and Upper Svaneti (Zemo Svaneti).
Sadly, today only the ruins of the building of a cafeteria, a warehouse and an administration remains here. The contours of the old master plan have not been preserved.
Given the elongated shape of the territory, the new master plan of the tourist complex follows linear scheme. One dead-end passage connected with the main road is designed. The first building line adjoins the passage: a hotel, a restaurant with a grocery store, a community and cultural center on the base on a former factory, an alpine school, a snowplow garage, and a first-aid station. The second, pedestrian, line is formed by residential apartment houses, the building of the SPA-complex and baths.
Pedestrian transits on the territory of "Ailama" are located in the direction of the main compositional axis. The main transit is limited by the multifunctional center in the northern part and the sports zone in the southern part, forming a kind of straight street between the second building line and the river. The transit of the second order is presented in the form of a geometrically complex closed path passing through all the functional areas of the camp site. Between transits in the restaurant area, the main square is formed, the isolation of which is created by the facades of buildings overlooking it.
Speaking about the space-planning design of the tourist complex, it is necessary to pay attention to the transport highway located here. In this aspect, this road should be considered not just as a transport artery, but as a factor in the historical context of Svaneti. This is due to the fact that the road is a historical route between Upper and Lower Svaneti: all traditional settlements with the famous Svan towers adjoin this route in one way or another, since it was and remains the main one. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that the assessment of the architectural context in this case should cover not just the nearest territory, but the route as a whole: the camp site should be perceived as a natural inclusion in the chain of historical architectural objects located along the main route of Svaneti. To solve this problem, it turned out to be obvious to use the principles of building and tectonics of the traditional archetypes of Svaneti. So, the layout of the development of the tourist complex is the buildings grouped according to the functional basis - residential and public. The facades of buildings are characterized by a pronounced, dominant the surface of the walls with relatively small openings.
