hotel in palmyra

BAUKUH
Place: Palmyra, Syria. Task: preliminary project. Client: Jabry family. Program: hotel. Cost: 4.000.000 $.

Palmyra is well known worldwide as one of the most impressive roman cities. The plot for the hotel is about 2 km south of the ruins, the oasis is in-between them. The land is flat, young olive trees on a grid, the desert around. The shape is an elongated rectangle, 70 meters north and south, almost 400 in the other direction. The brief suggested as many rooms as possible facing the ruins on the north and obviously a certain Arabic taste. We proposed for the first phase a four levels compact building on the northern part of the site, with 39 panoramic rooms and a basement on the south with courts and interior gardens, hosting all the facilities. The second and third phases complete the building with two long wings, a porch, a swimming pool and two big gardens, adding 20 ground floor rooms with private open space, a second restaurant and a spa.
The relation between the building and the landscape, how the building organizes the system of open spaces, is resembling roman and renaissance samples, establishing a clear connection even with Umayad and Sassanid palatial architecture. The openings in the elevation facing the ruins are based on geometrical patterns derived from motifs of the first Islamic decoration, thus resembling atomic models. A ionic gate acts as entrance door. The exterior material is mud plaster, similar to the color of the desert, except for two walls, covered with tiles, one pink and one black.
The building was considered too modern.
Next time, do not forget to add some Arabic arches.