Location
Empty quarter, KSA
Client
Confidential
Sector
Hospitality
Size
92,400 SQM
Scope
Architecture
Interior Design
Landscape Architecture
Masterplanning
Status
Confidential
The Desert Resort project offers a new approach to hospitality. In a family atmosphere, the guests will be able to enjoy a magical stay and to “experience the desert in its full glory, explore, isolate, breathe the wind, see the stars, touch the fire, hold the sand and feel part of it”. With its iconic design, the resort proposes a transformative, immersive and authentic experience and guarantees the highest standards of sustainability and service. The location of the village was chosen carefully, between a dune and a sabkha, with access to water. The dune provides shading while the villagers can enjoy the sunset when looking towards the sabkha. It is designed as a real settlement with square buildings, courtyards, streets and alleys.
The staff members operating the place become hosts in a village where they live while the visitors are more treated as guests than as clients. Entering the settlement, the guests find their way to their secluded accommodation by following the water. The village is conceived to provide an experience as natural as it would have been centuries ago in a reinvented environment. Natural materials are reshaped in contemporary forms while traditional spaces are readapted to today’s use: the Najran Tower serves as a model for a common courtyard while the falaj irrigation system turns into an infinite pool and sculpture elements are integrated within the thick walls.