This book takes architects and designers on a worldwide journey to discover the most stylish and appealing spots, from an urban getaway in Europe to a resort on a South Pacific island, providing a serene ...
Ownership options continue to feed development pipelines for resorts worldwide.
Few resort developers can make the numbers work without a residential component. That's pressuring interior designers to find new solutions to bridge the home-away-from-home look and standards of the resort proper with the level of design that condo and villa owners want in their vacation homes.
Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (MOHG) are two such luxury hotel brands actively growing their residence concepts. Banyan Tree and developer OHL, Madrid, are answering second home demand with the 132-villa Banyan Tree Mayakoba, slated to open in 2009 on Mexico's Riviera Maya. Mandarin Oriental is teaming up with Vienna-based real estate development group O Property Collection to manage 17 private villas and 78 apartments on Dellis Cay, Turks and Caicos, in the British West Indies, also set to open in 2009.
Luxury as lifestyle presented Starwood Capital Group founder and chief executive Barry Sternlicht with an opportunity to launch a new hotel brand using a famous name in crystal as its springboard. Baccarat Hotels and Resorts will open 193 residences in 2010 in Wailea, Hawaii. A sister property is planned for Anguilla.
Respect for the environment is a common concern among brands and buyers, making it a logical starting point for hotel and residence design. But working with the ecosystem has its challenges, says Zeke Fernandez, principal of Miami-based Nuhouse Design Associates, in charge of the Baccarat project. "For Baccarat's beach location, we chose a combination of hurricane-resistant concrete blocks and poured concrete construction along with hurricane-rated glass, windows and doors," Fernandez says. "We selected low-maintenance finish materials with a residential feel. Because of the climate, we avoided metal finishes that could rust or corrode."
Designers also must work with the geography. "One of the most challenging aspects of this site is that the government permitted us to develop a thin strip on the beach and a larger chunk of land several hundred meters inland, but we were required to preserve a significant amount of the mangrove in between," says Ho Kwoncjan, managing director of design services for Banyan Tree Holdings. "Travel from the main hotel to the beach is through the mangrove-by boat and buggy. What originally was thought of as an inconvenience turned out to be a charming and attractive journey through a tropical mangrove forest."
Function may provide a point of commonality but, when it comes to form, owners want to add their own decorative touches. This kind of flexibility is a given, yet high-end operators need to retain control over standards that support their luxury brands. Offering sophisticated, customizable furnishings and appliances is one solution. "Villa owners can create their own interiors from a selection of high-end furniture designs as well as high-tech appliances," says Chad Oppenheim, Oppenheim Architecture + Design, Miami, which is working on the MOHG project.
Another solution is minimalism. "The perceived glamour, elegance and glitz of the Baccarat brand had to be pared down to a barefoot elegance for the beach," Fernandez says. "We are incorporating the sense of the brand, but very deconstructed to reflect the natural surroundings of the location."