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The project
This five star hotel on the furthest frond of Dubai’s Palm was picked up by DSA International in 2006, which opted to change most of the original design.
The hotel was finally completed in 2010, and has been operating at 85% capacity since opening. The project has 100 rooms, split between individual villas, mansions and a manor house, and overlooks the Royal Mirage’s other beachfront hotel.
The site
The project is built on the final frond of the Palm, but its location was not a challenge for the contractors or architects due to the Palm’s relatively high quality road network. The hotel is linked to the mainland Royal Mirage via boat.
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The concept
Unlike its mainland counterpart, which draws its influence from Moroccan architecture, the One and Only on the Palm has a Moorish influence, drawing inspiration in particular from the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.
The details
Commenting on the influence of Andalucían architecture, Russell Sharfman, project architect on the One and Only, said: “It goes back to the Moorish influence in Spain, which was developed over years and years.
The manor house would have been the original building and the others would have been added on. There is a certain feel to the manor house that is different to the other buildings. In fact, no two buildings are the same.”
But although Alhambra was the starting point, DSA had to make changes in materials, opting to replace the Moorish stone with glass reinforced concrete (GRC). “It is cheaper but the key thing is that it would have taken years and years to make it out of stone,” Sharfman said.
The biggest challenge for the architects came from the marina restaurant at the rear of the hotel. The restaurant was completed in a staggering eight weeks from base steel to opening. “In terms of what we managed to pull off there, it’s really phenomenal,” Sharfman said.
DSA was targeting a minimum of LEED Silver, although Sharfman said that this was a general benchmark that DSA aimed for as a firm, rather than looking at the One and Only particularly.
It is also true that a low level hotel in a Moorish style is always going to be more sustainable than a glass office tower. “The thickness of the walls is generally 450mm, but elsewhere it is 550mm so that we can add the right amount of insulation,” he said.
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FEATURED COMMENT
cudos to the contractors AL BASTI & MUKTHA and BILT MIDDLE EAST