- Expertise
- Typology
- Mixed-Use
- Components
- Golf, Marina / Yacht Club, Multi-Family, Resort / Hotel, Resort Community, Retail, Spa / Wellness, Town / Village Center
- Attributes
- Destination, Destination Creation, Island, Sustainability, Ultra-Luxury, Waterfront
- Scale
- 2,800 hectares, 10,000 hotel and apartment keys, 18-hole golf community, one tower
coral, wave and dune inside and outside at once floating on the sea
Place
Place: Coral off a desert coast
The Red Sea holds some of the least disturbed coral reef systems left in the world. Its waters are warm and clear and unusually rich in marine life, fringing an arid coast of desert and mountains. Pristine was conceived as an island destination within that setting, for a client seeking a place that could hold high-end tourism without spoiling its natural environment.
Approach
Approach: Drawn from the reef
OBMI’s master plan took the marine environment as its source, working on biophilic principles. The organic formations of coral and marine life were interpreted through the architecture, alongside the motion of waves and dunes, drawing the design’s character from its own surroundings so that landscape and architecture would meet without a hard edge. A vertical tower was planned as the arrival point, a single high vantage from which to take in the whole place. At the other end of the scale, the plan aimed to give each guest intimate spaces and a degree of seclusion, so that a destination of this size would be experienced as something small.
“As a holistic community, this destination lets all users relish nature in a pristine environment of complete serenity, while at the same time affording them all the comforts of modern luxury.”
Experience
Experience: Under canvas
Restraint was the governing principle. The plan set out to protect the seascape and keep development light on the ground, and in the approach to the most sensitive natural areas it drew on traditional Arabic portable and tented lodging, a building tradition designed from the outset to leave little behind. Contemporary interpretations of Arabic architectural themes were carried through the scheme more widely, honouring the region’s building history while meeting the expectations of the traveller the destination was intended for.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure: Shade, signal and movement
Technology and movement were planned to run through the experience rather than sit on top of it, with climate shading devices to make the heat manageable, connectivity throughout, and an accessibility and mobility strategy intended to make a remote destination navigable and low-impact at once. OBMI worked with specialists in landscape, sustainability, climate, and technology to resolve a scheme of this ambition.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure: Afloat on solid ground
The plan was drawn to flex, able to absorb a range of development scenarios over time. Across the destination, the intention was a particular kind of doubleness: inside and outside at once, on solid ground and floating above the Red Sea.
