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| INTERIOR DESIGN FEATURES |
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| Mazagan Nights |
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By Kelly Sweeney
Set in more than 600 acres of undeveloped land south of Casablanca, the five-star Mazagan Beach Resort in El Jadida, Morocco, offers visitors stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean. Perched on more than four miles of private beaches, the luxury resort features 500 guest rooms and suites, along with a golf course, a casino, a state-of-the-art nightclub and a lavish spa. Once known as Mazagan, El Jadida is a port city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast that was under Portuguese influence from 1502
until 1769, giving the city its un-Moorish appearance and earning the city a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The resort, built and operated by Kerzner International, was designed by Wilson Associates, a design firm headquartered in Dallas. James Carry, Principal in Charge and Design Director of Wilson Associates, spoke
with DTM about his inspiration for the resort’s design as well as some of the challenges he faced on this project, which took approximately five years from start to finish. When Wilson Associates entered the project, a building had already been designed and approved by the Moroccan king, but the client wasn’t happy with it. Carry and his team spent quite a bit of time taking square footage out of the design and rearranging the spaces to provide a better flow.
The lobby features three large atria surrounded by reception areas, restaurants, convention space, the casino, shops and guest room access. Creating the proper flow to this public space was integral to designing
the whole resort, states Carry, who spent quite a bit of time designing the lobby and perfecting the flow. The resort boasts seven restaurants, the Sanctuary nightclub designed by Jeffrey Beers and a casino designed by Northpoint Design, as well as an 18-hole golf course designed by Gary
Player, a renowned South African golfer, a swimming pool and a beach.
Among the dining options at Mazagan is Olive’s, Carry’s favorite, which takes its inspiration from the Moroccan courtyard design with white walls, olivewood paneling, mirrors and a Arabic patterned wood
ceiling in a folded plane design. Olive’s offers exhibition cooking, a bar and wine room, and opens to the terrace for outdoor dining in the evenings. Sel de Mer is a fun, contemporary Portuguese seafood restaurant
that reflects Morocco’s history as a Portuguese seaport. The timbers lining the ceiling in a wave pattern pay homage to the seafaring vessels and the wave pattern itself, along with the blue color palette, represents the sea. Other dining options include The Market Place, a brightly lit buffet
restaurant offering dishes from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia; Morjana, which features traditional Moroccan décor and blends traditional and innovative cuisine; and several places to grab a quick bite, such as Oasis, Palm Grill and the Club House.
The Mazagan’s 20,000-square-foot spa offers guests 10 treatment rooms, two couples’ suites, a 100-square-meter Hammam with two steam rooms and a state-of-the-art fitness center. The spa building is nestled among the resort’s palm and orange trees, and all treatment rooms
offer magnificent ocean or garden views.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the Mazagan Spa, the Hammam, or Turkish bath, features three rooms at varying temperatures. Guests alternate between the cool, warm and hot temperatures as they stretch their muscles and cleanse and exfoliate their skin. The concept dates back to the Roman baths and is still common throughout Turkey and Northern Africa today. The traditional design of the Hammam features a marble pedestal in the center of the warm room where bathing occurs. Guests have the option of using the Hammam by themselves or having an attendant assist with the stretching and bathing. The Hammam, as well as the rest of the spa, is open to both men and women, with certain times for couples to partake together as well as separate times for men and women. Carry’s inspiration for the spa layout was the idea of compression and release made famous by Frank Lloyd Wright and often seen in Moroccan cities. The narrow hallways lead to open areas, giving guests a sense of freedom. The hallways feature skylights and have rock beds in the center of the floor with sparkling tea lights, making for a spectacular setting at night. Carry selected a light and refreshing color palette and added music and aromatherapy to complete the spa experience.
Another interesting feature both in the spa and throughout the resort is the tadelakt finish on the walls. Tadelakt is a fabulous, yet time consuming technique, according to Carry, that involves rubbing marble dust over lime plaster repeatedly until the plaster is extremely hard and waterproof. Considering its beauty and durability, Carry decided to use tadelakt wherever he could throughout the resort. A traditional finish in Morocco, the Mazagan Beach Resort represents the largest installation of tadelakt to date.
As with any project, Carry faced many challenges ranging from design issues to space and budgeting concerns. One of his biggest challenges was working with the standard guest room size, which was on the small end for this resort. Carry and his team used creative design in the bathrooms, opening them toward the windows to allow natural light to radiate throughout the space.
Carry stated that while approximately 80 percent of the construction was done locally, only about 25 percent of the product was sourced from Morocco. This was due to time constraints and availability according to Carry. While the project itself extended lasted five years, the purchasing and delivery schedules were compressed, which meant they had to source product from an abnormally high number of vendors. Coordinating delivery and installation of product from so many sources added a logistical challenge to the project.
The design team conducted many hours of research while working on the initial design as well asduring the sourcing phase, including tours of Morocco, as well as searching books, movies and the Internet. Carry also had to make sure the resort appealed to the overnight guests as well as the “day-trippers”who come to the resort from the surrounding areas to visit the casino, restaurants, nightclub or spa, while providing a separation between the guests staying at the hotel and the day-trippers. Carry used many beautiful traditional Middle Eastern elements, such as the geometric carvings in the woodwork, which are spiritual symbols in the Islamic world, and the vivid saturated colors common in the region. The
end result of this research and the design team’s hard work is a classic Moroccan palace on the outside and a five-star luxury resort with a 21st century twist on the inside. |
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