Resort: The Latest Architecture and News

Foster + Partners is designing Hotel 12, on the Ummahat AlShaykh Island in Saudi Arabia. Developed by the Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), the project is one of two hotels on the island, the first being planned by Kengo Kuma.

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Going out twice per month, our curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture submitted by our readers highlights inventive conceptual approaches and designs. Showcasing projects from all over the world, this article puts together several programs, from houses to master plans. Moreover, it presents winning proposals from international competitions, buildings in progress, and creative concepts.

In the housing category, the roundup features an underground bunker-like house plan in Ukraine, a suspended glass structure cabin in Portugal, a complex of residential units in France, and a site-less, style-inclusive reinterpretation of the vertical housing block. In addition, a playful commercial building in Iran, a WWI memorial in Serbia, and an extension for the Glasgow School of Art join the selection, with their imaginative architecture and out of the box ideas.

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Videos

Delicately excavated from the natural grounds of Jordan’s Wadi Rum, Jordanian architect Rasem Kamal transformed the phrase of “form follows function” into “subtraction follows function”, emphasizing the relationship between external form and internal space with a resort that promises a sanctuary both above and underground.

In the newly-released video of the proposal, the architect uncovers the hidden resort and takes viewers on an enchanting walkthrough of the proposed Wadi Rum Sanctuary Resort. Kamal complements the desert’s jagged landscape with the resort’s subtle architecture, letting the structure blend seamlessly with its surroundings.

Jean Nouvel has just unveiled his design for Sharaan, a resort hidden within the rock dwellings of AlUla, a cultural oasis in north-west Arabia. Showcasing a modern take on millennia-old ways of living, the project puts in place monumental designs carved into the rocks, respecting and preserving the landscape. Inspired by the nearby Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, the concept takes a curatorial approach bringing together landscape and history.

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Neutelings Riedijk Architects has unveiled images for the Heldentoren, the latest icon of Knokke-Heist, in Belgium. Scheduled for construction starting October 2020, the mixed-use 70 meters high development is set to become one of the highest towers along the Belgian coast.

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This article is part of "Eastern Bloc Architecture: 50 Buildings that Defined an Era", a collaborative series by The Calvert Journal and ArchDaily highlighting iconic architecture that had shaped the Eastern world. Every week both publications will be releasing a listing rounding up five Eastern Bloc projects of certain typology. Read on for your weekly dose: Futuristic Hotels and Avant-Garde Resorts.

X-Architects’ entry for the Desert Resort Competition, generated a luxury 60 keys desert hideaway resort, in an ultra-harsh and empty environment. Placed in Rub’ Al Khali, the world’s biggest sand sea located in the KSA, the project addresses the challenging design in desert-like surroundings.

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Tokat Sulusaray Thermal Facilities designed by the Istanbul-based office Studio Vertebra commemorates the region’s historical background and enhances the touristic aspect. In harmony with the natural and archeological landscape, the project aims to regenerate the city.

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After years of construction, the world's first underwater hotel has officially opened in the Maldives. The hotel, part of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, will allow guests to relax within the waters of the Indian Ocean and is touted by the developers as "an ambitious display of architecture, design, and technology."

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The Sunshine Coast of Australia’s Yaroomba Beach is about to get a $900 million upgrade. The integrated, mixed-use development will be the first 5-star resort developed on the Sunshine Coast in 30 years. HASSELL has been awarded the work as master planners, architects, and landscape architects for the massive project, focusing on sustainable and ecological goals to ‘touch the ground lightly.'

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