RFP Magazine

A "little resort" harking back to old Macau, Asia's latest Four Seasons Hotel sits as an island of peace and quiet amidst the whirlwind and controversy that is the Cotai strip in recent months.

When the Venetian Macau opened with fanfare last year, traffic stalled as people rushed to get to the worlds largest casino hotel and shopping complex. A year later the Four Seasons Macau enjoyed its soft opening in a more understated manner. The differentiation in design and approach was deliberate, as many hotels exist and are planned around the Cotai strip of reclaimed land that has seen a recent construction boom.

One of the first points of differentiation was its size. This fact was not missed by the designers, as Tracie Co of Hirsh Bedner Associates (HBA) noted, “What’s ironic is that for a typical site it would be an average to large hotel, but for the Venetian complex it’s the boutique offering.” However, the theme and the design were also notably different. Co continued: “Given that a large portion of these hotels will be owned by the same owner, they have already been geared to different market segments. A lot of it was based on the design direction of the architecture.

 

Differentiation

Even the retail mall [Venetian master planned] on parcel five and six, the concept for each mall is very different from the Four Seasons mall. The owner obviously has a very strong overall vision for the different parts, to make sure that each section has its own unique properties.” The Four Seasons building consists of a 20-storey hotel and The Shoppes at Four Seasons, a three-storey luxury shopping mall that interconnect to the Venetian Macau’s shopping mall area. The Four Seasons has a separate entrance and through the peaceful lobby visitors can exit to resort style pools, landscaped gardens and terraces, a spacious pool bar and outdoor eating areas. The interior and exterior deliberately rejected the hemmed in feeling omnipresent in the casino and Venetian retail area. Full-height windows invite light into what designers hoped would feel like a colonial Portuguese and Chinese influenced living space framed by nostalgic architecture.

Façade lighting is complemented by traditional decorative wall sconces, pendants, chandeliers, and lampposts consistent with the architectureof that period. According to the architect, Paul Steelman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Steelman Partners, the project seeks to “combine luxury and comfort, sophisticated entertainment and glamorous shopping into one exceptional retreat experience.” European and Chinese design motifs are combined in a classical-meets-contemporary way throughout restaurants, rooms and other areas. Chinoiserie, hand painted silks, carved wood and stone, and handmade tiles are wrapped from the entry courtyard into the main lobbies and lounges. Rich golden ochre walls and cream coloured stone detailing and tiles are highlighted with rich blues and greens.

Co explains that the design team worked closely with Steelman to unify the look. “The architecture was quite far along by the time we arrived. We wanted to make sure that the interior and exterior architecture blended well together, so that also had a huge influence on our design approach.” Paulo Dias, Associate, HBA explains that “The brief was for us to design something that related to the local culture of Macau. We had plenty to research with the mixture of Portuguese and Chinese culture in Macau, to bring that cultural background and reference to the architecture.

Standards of influence

The Four Seasons has its own very high standard for things such as the fixtures, furnishing and equipments (FF&E).” For Dias the inspiration was an old Portuguese colonial house, so he emphasised the high ceilings and the staircase from the lobby lounge. “We brought in some Chinese textiles, the wooden frames, old 18th and 19th century embroidered Chinese hangings.”

The Asian influence is also very visible with paintings by the famous 林天行 (Lam Tin Hang) and other artifacts found in the common areas. Some architectural features serve more than their immediately obvious purpose. The grand staircase in the lobby is hugely popular with real and professional wedding day photo shoots. Co says The Four Seasons is very particular about the different things such as FF&E, colours schemes, they have many, many layers of variations for what should be used in different room types, in common areas. We worked very closely to
make sure the design matched that.

It was also important that the design be a distinct part of the Venetian complex. Co says there was a lot of emphasis put on the design of the transition zones, that link to different points of the retail mall. “There is a very distinctive look for the both the Venetian Mall and the Four Seasons, so the challenge was deciding how to ease that transition space, how to do it properly while retaining the distinction for both the hotel and the mall.” She continued: “The idea was you don’t get shocked like going from a “red zone” to a “blue zone”. At each location we have transitional architraves, and we made sure that the materials used complemented those used in the mall, so there wouldn’t be some straight line separating the two. We wanted people to come back and forth between the properties.”

Other than differentiation and design the main challenge to the project was time, Dias says, “The organization and management for the project was very difficult.” Co concurs, “It was so fast tracked we had something like eight contractors on board. So instead of just working with one contact we had to deal with many teams.” However she notes that one of the benefits of many contractors was that if one of the teams finished early, hey would help out with something else if that was needed, ”there was some cross-work happening.”

Looking back
“Often when you walk through a completed project, it doesn’t match the original design concept the way it was designed. But I think with this project it really matches what we first envisaged…Often with these fast track projects, time pressures mean that things have to go a different way. In the end sometimes they go so far that you can’t recognise the end project.” This was not the case in this project however as Dias concludes “Of course there were some compromises along the way. When you design something it’s a one of a kind piece. If you develop a product you can do three or four prototypes but when you don’t have time you can’t do that.”

The final product consists of 360 rooms, 84 suites, meeting space, spa adjoining swimming pool, fitness center and yoga studios, it features a variety of dining options from cocktails in the Windows Restaurant to fine cigars, wine and spirits in the Bar Azul, a jewel box-sized space with lacquered blue wall covering, blue velvet drapes and one striking wall done in iridescent sea-shell abalone. Glass columns with custom Chinese cloud patterns and Asian chinoiserie black and gold wall coverings create a dramatic look in Zi Yat Heen, the fine dining Chinese and Dim Sum restaurant. RFP – Issue 48/49