Resort and Spa
Maldive Islands

Designed for a small atoll in the Indian Ocean as a commission from a Singapore-based developer, this luxury eco-resort and spa embodies a symbiotic exchange between land and sea, the natural and the manmade. A spiral promenade winds from the center of the island toward the surrounding lagoon, connecting thirty private land villas with public amenities, communal waterfront, and fifty floating water villas arranged in an organic frond pattern. The existing ecology and topography of the three-sided island - a lush green expanse surrounded by white-sand beaches within the calm turquoise sea - inspired a radiating landscape plan. Conceived as rattan baskets navigated ashore by the tides, and constructed from regionally harvested bamboo, each of the eighty duplex, 1,500-square-foot, glass-lined bungalow villas is wrapped in a curving solar lattice that filters sunlight while providing privacy and expansive sea views.

Spiraling from the island's center toward the perimeter, the main promenade is lined with interconnected cafés, library, health club, bar, and infinity pools. Native-habitat gardens featuring palms, hibiscus, and alang-alang surround the central service and living quarters. The ring of beachfront villas is interspersed with bathing jetties leading to the diving school, restaurant, reef pavilions, and nautilus spa. The south side of the island is reserved as a communal beach, with a boat dock at one end and an open-air cinema and theater at the other.