Archinect - News

NEOM unveils new bridged Treyam resort development for the Gulf of Aqaba

2024-03-22T18:43:00-04:00

The next satellite development of NEOM has been announced as a new lagoon straddling resort called Treyam. News of its announcement follows last week’s update from NEOM detailing the golf course and resort concept Gidori from Aedas architects Ignacio Gomez and Lama Al-Kharboush in the Saudi Gulf of Aqaba region.

This latest destination will be developed in the same coast region and is promoted as being an “audacious design with minimal land intervention." This is the tenth project to be announced for the region since last October.

Image courtesy NEOM

Plans call for a 250-room hotel connected to either shoreline via a long skybridge whose facade embellishes a sunset-like illusion when viewed from a distance. Mark Foster Cage and Bashayer Bamohsen appear in a “Meet the Architects” video as Treyam’s lead designers along with the founder of Dubai’s JT+Partners, Joe Tabet.

Image courtesy NEOM

A 450-meter (1,476-feet) long rooftop infinity pool invites guests to a further “awe-inspiring” ex...

NEOM announces new Gidori resort and golf course satellite development — its tenth overall

2024-03-18T19:22:00-04:00

A new golf resort concept has been revealed as the latest satellite development for NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion+ experiment in urbanization and global luxury tourism.

'Gidori,' as it will be known, is designed to include an 18-hole course with a 200-unit residential component, 80-room hotel, beach club, and other sport and leisure facilities spread throughout a rocky coastal setting on the Gulf of Aqaba.

Image courtesy NEOM

Architects Ignacio Gomez and Lama Al-Kharboush (both of Aedas) are mentioned in a promotional video as being the lead designers for the project.

Video courtesy NEOM/YouTube

It follows Leyja, Epicon, Siranna, Utamo, Norlana, and Aquellum as the latest addition to the NEOM family. Marketing for the project appears to be centered on its integration within the landscape. A "progressive architectural centerpiece" called 'The Monolith' will greet visitors at the shoreline, keying their repose into the network of spas, pools, and gyms inside and anchoring the pr...

Disneyland’s $1.9 billion campus expansion moves toward approval

2024-03-14T11:54:00-04:00

The LA Times and other local outlets are reporting on the progress made by Disney towards eventually realizing an expansion of the existing plot of Disneyland, a move billed as generating multiple community benefits for the city of Anaheim.

The $1.9 billion DisneylandForward project does not call specifically for any new construction and will be executed within the resort's existing 500-acre campus. According to an assessment of the plan from the Disney Tourist Blog, “DisneylandForward is the company’s pitch to the public and City of Anaheim for more flexibility in the master plans from the 1990s in order to give the company greater autonomy over what to build and where.”

In line with founder Walt Disney's vision for a constant expansion of the resort, the plan presents the potential for both an "immersive new theme park" and a "new kind" of entertainment district possibly containing a hotel and cluster of retail, dining, and entertainment plots to be created in the east and west co...

NEOM unveils new Aquellum resort concept from LAVA and NAME

2024-01-18T19:10:00-05:00

The latest satellite development of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project, a new mountainside resort destination called Aquellum, has been launched, along with other initiatives meant to promote sport, leisure, and tourism in the Gulf of Aqaba region.

The coastal development, which appears to feature the same concept for a self-styled "zero gravity urbanism" that defines The Line megacity’s internal layout, is slated to include luxury retail and hotel amenities along with art galleries and a sunken marina design, all tucked inside a 1,480-foot mountain and within traveling distance from its fellow Leyja, Epicon, and Siranna satellite resorts nearby.

Image courtesy NEOM

Guests will arrive via boat courtesy of a hidden canal entryway at the base of the development. A central 'experiential boulevard' serves as the main artery of the socially condensing courtyard space at the center of the 330-foot-tall above-ground component. A special innovation space called 'The Generator' is finally included a...

NEOM launches Siranna resort concept on the Gulf of Aqaba

2023-12-04T17:42:00-05:00

Another high-end luxury resort complex has been revealed in Saudi Arabia as part of the country’s NEOM megadevelopment on the Gulf of Aqaba.

The new Siranna development will include a 65-key hotel in addition to 35 “exclusive” residences geared toward tourists and complement the previous Leyja and Epicon resort concepts that were announced this year.

Image courtesy NEOM

Guests will be transited to the destination via water taxis, emerge from the Red Sea surf, and pass through a gateway of natural rock formations to find a tiered approach to the outcropping of hexagonal volumes that spring up from the surrounding landscape like shards of crystals.

Image courtesy NEOM

Paolo Testolini, the Dubai-based Principal and Global Sector Leader of Cities and Places for Woods Bagot’s UAE operation, appears in a promotional video as the architect that will lead its design. His colleague Nik Karalis appears also to be involved, stating that the concept will help “redefine our notions of what touri...

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture reveal design for mountainside Vermont village master plan

2023-11-30T12:13:00-05:00

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture have unveiled their design for a master-planned residential development in Killington, Vermont. Developed by Great Gulf, the “mountain village community” will include the largest ski beach in the Eastern United States.

Image credit: Great Gulf

The 450-acre development is framed by the 4,241-foot Killington Peak, one of six mountain peaks to surround the village. The first phase of the community will see 32,000 square feet of commercial space accompanying 225 residences, comprising condominiums, townhomes, and single-family homes. The residential community will also feature ski-in/ski-out access.

Image credit: Great Gulf

“We aim to capture the spirit of, and character of, the Vermont village in a contemporary rendition of vital public spaces for all seasons,” Moshe Safdie is quoted on a website dedicated to the development.

Image credit: Great Gulf

Pre-construction is currently underway on the site, with sales for the first residences exp...

NEOM debuts new Epicon coastal resort and hotel concept

2023-11-17T16:58:00-05:00

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project has announced another new coastal resort concept located on the country’s Gulf of Aqaba.

The new Epicon destination follows last month’s announcement of Leyja, another hospitality project in the region. It will become the sixth development in NEOM’s portfolio, which includes the Trojena and Sindalah ski and yacht resorts, Oxagon industrial/residential tract, and the controversial 'zero-gravity urbanism' showcase THE LINE megacity.

Image courtesy NEOM

Two towers totaling 225 and 275 meters in height (738 and 902 feet, respectively) are included in Epicon's hotel concept, along with a distant resort and a string of luxury beach villas that are cast along the shoreline — the hotel buildings appearing as though a desert mirage.

Image courtesy NEOM

The 41-key hotel design with 14 apartment units offers twin-tower blocks connected via an elevated platform defined by exposed structural beams extending out in either direction. Its facade can be illuminated from t...

NEOM reveals new Leyja resort concepts designed by Mario Cucinella, Chris van Duijn, and Shaun Killa

2023-10-18T18:24:00-04:00

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM megaproject has announced a new planned luxury resort development called Leyja that features designs from teams led by architects Mario Cucinella, Chris van Duijn, and Shaun Killa.

Details on the new aspect of the development are scarce, though the plan is to include three hotels and an experience center placed at nodes along a winding gulch leading inland from the Gulf of Aqaba.

Renderings show the structures being inserted into the 400-meter-high natural rock formations at the site.

The Adventure Hotel concept by Chris van Duijn/OMA. Image courtesy of NEOM

The 'Adventure Hotel,' designed by van Duijn, is stepped vertically as though a staircase leading up the walls of the cliff whose topography is accentuated by its form. The hotel is intended to provide a base for tourists to pursue rock climbing and other "high-octane" activities.

It is joined by an oasis-straddling design from Cucine...

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture to deliver ‘luxury mountain village’ for Great Gulf in Killington, Vermont

2023-10-06T13:11:00-04:00

Safdie Architects has been tapped by developers Great Gulf to deliver a master-planned residential development in Killington, Vermont. While design proposals for the site are yet to be revealed, Great Gulf has said that sales of the first residences will launch next year, designed by a team led by Safdie and PWP Landscape Architecture.

According to the developers, the site will hold a “one-of-a-kind master-planned village and luxury four-season resort-style residential community.” The 450-acre development will include ski-in/ski-out access, restaurants, retail, and “the largest ski beach in the East.”

Project site in Killington, VT. Image credit: Williams New York

Phase One of the scheme will include over 32,000 square feet of commercial space and approximately 225 residences consisting of condominiums, townhouses, and single-family homesites. “We aim to capture the spirit of, and character of, the Vermont village in a contemporary rendition of vital public spaces for all seasons,” M...

New resort and casino project approved for the Las Vegas Strip

2022-10-24T11:48:00-04:00

Officials in Clark County, Nevada, have voted to approve a new 43-story resort and casino project to be located on the Las Vegas Strip following a successful bid from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.

According to Construction Dive, the scheme will include a 2,420-room hotel, 2,536-seat theater, chapel, retail, offices, and convention spaces on top of a multiple-level parking structure and be located nearby the larger Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino at 3725-3735 Las Vegas Boulevard South.

The plan will be developed over the next two years beginning tentatively in March and joins the city’s list of other major forthcoming post-pandemic projects, which to date includes DLR’s Group’s 21-story Dream Hotel, the soon-to-be-completed MSG Sphere by Populous, and the expanding Vegas Loop from Elon Musk’s The Boring Company.

An architect for the project has yet to be named. In a s...

Kengo Kuma completes Japanese farmhouse resort surrounding rice terraces

2022-09-20T11:10:00-04:00

Work has been completed on the Kengo Kuma and Associates-designed KAI Yufuin, a hot spring hotel on the Japanese island of Kyushu. The resort sees a landscape of rice terraces enclosed by several buildings containing public functions, a bathhouse, guest rooms, and villa suites.

Exterior. Photo credit: Hoshino Resorts

The scheme’s three anchor buildings, namely the public building, bathhouse building, and guest room building, are defined by long gabled roofs with low eaves heights. The buildings’ exteriors are clad in charcoal grey to blend with the deep green hue of the surrounding forest, while the entrance is distinguished by a series of bamboo exterior walls.

Entrance. Photo credit: Hoshino Resorts

Rice Terrace. Photo credit: Hoshino Resorts

The interior architecture surrounding the rice terraces is based on the concept of a “fine farmhouse” presenting a bespoke interior that nonetheless follows the spatial structure of vernacular Japanese farm...

The $5 billion Moon Dubai resort could soon welcome tourists and astronauts alike

2022-09-09T19:34:00-04:00

A lunar addition to Dubai’s burgeoning Space Age aesthetic may soon grace the city’s skyline thanks to a new tourist destination and astronaut training facility proposal by a Canadian venture called Moon World Resorts Inc.

Arabian Business has picked up details of the so-called Moon Dubai project, which is said to total 735 feet (224 meters) in height and will take around 48 months to complete once the final approval is given to designs first drawn up by the company’s co-founding architects Sandra G. Matthews and Michael R. Henderson.

Vaguely resembling the presence of Buckminster Fuller’s famed Expo 67 Pavilion or one of the forthcoming (reviled) MSG Spheres, the structure is being marketed as a shot in the arm for Dubai’s hospitality and entertainment industries and will be surrounded by a “lunar colony” that is expected to receive up to 2.5 million visitors annually. The designers stated that this number could easily swell to around 10 million. According to their proposal, the ma...

Sou Fujimoto’s new resort concept offers guests a revelatory experience of form and philosophy

2022-08-02T19:15:00-04:00

A few months removed from their grand House of Music debut in Budapest, Sou Fujimoto Architects has just unveiled concept renderings and a project website of an undulating coastal resort design on Okinawa’s Ishigaki Island for the Japanese hospitality brand NOT A HOTEL.

The circular home concept includes four bedrooms arranged around an open-air combined living/dining room that includes an island kitchen and panoramic views of the ocean. Its green roof gives way to an internal courtyard that is defined by a 12-meter (40-foot) infinity pool and framed by a singular symbol tree. The construction will equal more than 3,000 tsubos, or about 106,000 square feet, upon its completion, which is scheduled for next summer.

Image courtesy Sou Fujimoto Architects

As mentioned in the project announcement, the design’s near-poetic expression of natural geometries and landscaping is conducive to improved circulation throughout while simultaneously breaking the indoor-outdoor threshold in a refresh ...

Büro Ole Scheeren's new Sanya Horizons resort offers itself as a tropical oasis on the coast

2022-03-25T17:38:00-04:00

One of South China’s most coveted vacation destinations is about to get a spur thanks to a new design from Büro Ole Scheeren.

Billed as an enhancement of the natural surroundings on Hainan Island, Sanya Horizons will stand 160 meters (525 feet) above the resort-dotted tropical coastline to offer itself as what the firm says is a “unique ecological leisure destination” on a massive 83,500-square-meter (898,786-square-foot) beachfront plot.

Image © Büro Ole Scheeren

The project will combine two hotels — the Regent Sanya Bay and Hotel Indigo Sanya Bay — into one development, with each arranged in a stack that frees up much of the space surrounding the structure for an even more enhancing program of natural gardens and swimming areas. The combination of the massing also creates a unique and memorable curvilinear form that is both more structurally and ecologically efficient. Scheeren described the cumulative effect as “the merging of architecture and nature into a space of synergetic ha...

Zaha Hadid Architects tops out on 'Hollywood-inspired' resort complex in Macau

2021-11-23T12:03:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has shared an update about its latest venture in the Chinese entertainment capital of Macau. The multibillion-dollar project has topped out on Phase 2 of its Hollywood-themed twin-tower resort called Studio City. The resort was built to expand developer Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s operation in the city’s burgeoning Cotai Strip.

Renderings courtesy mir/Zaha Hadid Architects

The facades of each building are defined by three layers of gradated glass with external shade fins that ensure an energy-efficient envelope. Featuring more than 250,000 square meters (2.7 million square feet) of total floor area, the 900-room development is home to a six-screen movie theater, retail and gaming areas, and one of Asia’s largest water outdoor parks. The studio has previously worked with Melco to complete a nearby luxury hotel complex called Morpheus in 2018.

Renderings courtesy mir/Zaha Hadid Architects

“Studio City Phase 2 reaffirms our ongoing commitment to the city and c...

UNStudio design selected as the winning proposal for Sochi Waterfront

2021-07-22T08:59:00-04:00

An inclusive master plan for the Sochi waterfront by UNStudio has been announced as the winner of an international competition that will reshape the resort community with its second major construction boom in the past decade. The studio beat out other submissions with a sprawling litoral intervention meant to transform Sochi into “a place for all.”

Image courtesy UNStudio

The former Olympics host is known throughout Russia as a coveted pearl on a chain of Black Sea resort towns tantamount to the Amalfi Coast or French Riviera. UNStudio’s intervention will aim to integrate existing cultural and leisure industry destinations into the development in the hopes of strengthening the city’s claims as a haven for tourists.

Renders: ZOA, UNStudio

Per the architect: “The goal of the city’s future development is to make Sochi the most progressive and international harbor for culture, technology, health, and innovation and to enrich the life of a local community and visitor...

ENOTA turns an outdated wellness center into a soothing vacation escape

2018-10-24T17:32:00-04:00

ENOTA architects turns a classic health center into a relaxing modern spa fit for adults and kids. The main focus of the renovation was to create a space that would satisfy the current needs of the visitors. Its construction was gradual, tackling pieces of the structure instead of renovating all at once. The developers and architectural team from ENOTA strived to create a space that focused on how the building design would interact with its surrounding environment as well as its guests.

Image © Miran Kambič

The Termalija Family Wellness facility was built in the former outdoor pool area. Previously, the outdoor space had a covering that enabled guests to enjoy the pool during both summer and winter months. However, this outdoor covering proved to pose a visual and functional issue. To resolve this, a new roofing design was developed to allow for the pool space to be fully covered without obtrusive support beams or a flat appearance.

The geometric roof floats abo...

North Korea dreams of an international tourist resort — at its missile launch site

2017-10-11T15:53:00-04:00

While headlines are dominated by escalating hostility between North Korea and the US, it has emerged that the Democratic People’s Republic has recently hatched plans to lure international tourists to a swanky new resort. The isolated regime of Kim Jong-un wants to turn the east coast city of Wonsan into “the Pearl of the East” to boost tourism, and hopes to attract $1.5bn in international investment for hotels, offices, apartments and an exhibition centre.

A different kind of logic applies to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's planning strategy of turning the seaside city, and summer retreat, of Wonsan into a hot spot of international tourism — with luxury hotels, golf courses, sand beaches — AND maintain it as frequent launch site for the regime's (potentially nuclear warhead-carrying) missile arsenal.

2.7-mile-long abandoned Nazi resort is getting transformed into luxury housing

2017-07-14T19:53:00-04:00

Capable of holding more than 20,000 residents, Prora was meant to comfort the weary German worker who toiled away in a factory without respite. According to historian and tour guide Roger Moorhouse, it was also meant to serve as the carrot to the stick of the Gestapo — a pacifying gesture to get the German people on Hitler's side. But then World War II began, and Prora's construction stalled — until now.

Named Prora and located on a beachfront of Rügen island, the structure was commissioned by Adolf Hitler as the world's largest tourist resort three years before Germany invaded Poland in 1939. In those three years over 9,000 workers were involved in the construction of the 2.7-mile-long building.

"But as the Third Reich began its devastating march through Europe, workers returned to their factories and Prora fell by the wayside. It became a shell of building, a failed Nazi dream left to decay for the next several decades ..."

Prora in 2014. Image via wikimedia.org

However, in 2013 a German real-estate company Metropole Marketing bought the rights to refurbish Prora and build it up as luxury summer homes and a full-time apartment complex. While some of the units are already on sale with prices ranging from $400,000 to $725,000, the restoration is planned to be completed by 2022.

"While these amenities are certainly appealing, given the location's history and its distance from Berlin ...

The ghost hotels of the Sinai coast

2016-06-08T17:14:00-04:00

The villas are naked concrete, baked in the sun like unpainted pottery. The swimming pool is a trough with light fixtures poking from the sides. There are no guests, many stray dogs, and one-full time member of staff—a watchman who spends much of his time tending a fruit orchard where mangoes, oranges and lemons grow. If this were an isolated case, it would be mere misfortune. But the Seagull is just one ruin among dozens that line some 200 km of road on the southeastern Sinai coast.

"These ghost hotels are a product of the collapse of Egypt’s tourism industry after the revolution of 2011 and the political turmoil and terrorist attacks that followed."

For more news from Egypt, check out these links:

Movie-themed resort in Macau to show off "figure-8" ferris wheel

2015-07-16T04:20:00-04:00

The Golden Reel will be the 'centerpiece attraction' of the soon-to-[be]-opened Studio City resort. It will be located between the hotel's two central towers, 427 ft off the ground. The movie-inspired design is said to be based on the idea of two flaming asteroids crashed through the building, leaving two large holes around which the figure-eight shape is made.

Your call, Vegas.

Controversy over Hitler's Prora beach resort continues

2015-05-26T15:15:00-04:00

Axel Bering and Michael Jacobi, the main investors behind the Prora project, claim they could not care less about a building once being dedicated to Hitler. [...] He and his partner, Michael Jacobi, both confess that because they had to comply with German regulations, their investment carries some Third Reich architecture qualities. They did, however, add a balcony, but otherwise they see Prora as a nice beach town and a solid investment.

Artist impressions of various sections of the Prora colossus and their new make-up (source: Seebad Prora):

Previously

Jason F. McLennan selected to design Leonardo DiCaprio's restorative eco-resort

2015-04-15T12:16:00-04:00

When it opens to guests in 2018, 'Blackadore Caye, a Restorative Island' will feature the trappings of many luxury resorts, with sprawling villas, infinity pools and stunning sunset views. But the 'Restorative' in the title refers not just to the impact the island might have on visitors, but to the island itself. Blackadore Caye has suffered from overfishing, an eroding coastline and the deforestation of its mangrove trees, and the partners mean to put it back to rights.

After co-purchasing the unpopulated Blackadore Caye off the coast of Belize for reportedly $1.75 million in 2005, actor Leonardo DiCaprio recently revealed plans with Delos chief executive Paul Scialla and lead architect Jason F. McLennan to build an eco-conscious resort dubbed "Blackadore Caye, a Restorative Island”, slated to open in 2018. The resort's design will follow Living Building Challenge standards and include Delos' signature health-conscious amenities for guests. It'll also feature artificial reefs, fish shelters, and plant nurseries to what the partners say will eventually restore the island.

While the millionaire-friendly resort could propel Belize's economy, it brings up the debatable topic of ecotourism and its legitimacy. As it seems, giving money to an environmental conversation program isn't vogue enough for the rich and famous.

Vacation resort developers help complete Hitler's vision

2014-12-18T13:33:00-05:00

Built by the Third Reich in the run-up to World War II, the Strength Through Joy resort was a Nazi vision of tourism’s future. Happy, healthy Aryans would stay and play at the 10,000-room complex on the Baltic Sea, eating, swimming and even bowling for the Führer. Think Hitler’s Cancun. [...] a group of investors in this seaside town is now doing what the Nazis never could: realizing the site’s final stage of transformation into a vacation wonderland.

Previously

Luxury Flats Planned for Derelict Nazi Resort

2013-05-27T19:08:00-04:00

With so much discussion going on with former Nazi Party relics these days, German developers are trying to revive a valuable real estate, the Nazi built Prora resort complex which served to Hitler's upper ranks. Once it is fixed and put on the market, it will be called "Sea Symphony" with a slogan, "Awakened with a kiss and beautifully renovated."

Der Spiegel

Real Madrid's Fantasy Island Revealed

2012-03-22T14:23:00-04:00

Real Madrid Resort Island will be a major tourist and sporting centre of great dimensions and the highest level. This extraordinary complex will attract millions of people looking for quality leisure services.

The resort will be located on the artificial island of Al Marjan in the United Arab Emirates. It will feature sports facilities, a marina, luxury hotels, villas, an amusement park, a club museum and a futuristic 10,000-seat stadium with one side open to the sea.

Renderings given to the press are described as 'handouts' and no name for the architect is given at this point.

BIG to Design Ski Resort in Lapland

2011-12-12T18:56:32-05:00

BIG has just been announced winning an invited competition for Koutalaki Ski Village, a 47,000 m2 ski resort and recreational area in Levi, Finland.