Les Salines Resort, Mauritius
Acting not only as landscape architect but also as resort planner HED prepared the initial masterplan before introducing Ritz-Carlton to the Client and assembling the Design Team for a new luxury resort in the Riviere Noire area of Mauritius.
As the masterplan concept is rooted firmly in the landscape of Mauritius, the masterplan and landscape are inseparable.
The design begins with the landscape itself drawing inspiration from the rocks that tell the history of time, from the waters and plants that give life and from the people who over centuries have lived in and shaped the landscape.
The landscape tells stories of these people from the Arabs who named the island Dinarobin or Silver Island through centuries of European influence evident in patterns and names in the landscape.
The design seeks to provide clues to or memories of those stories with visual references in the pattern of the salt pan memories, the use of indigenous stone and the splendour of the tropical vegetation. Through these wind threads of colour reflecting the unique combination of Asia – Indian heritage in an African context.
Recognising the site’s position in that special place “twixt land and sea” and combined with the rainbow colours of different cultures and exotic flowers, is a palette of fresh and vibrant green and lighter stone reflected by shimmering blue lagoons.
| Location: | Mauritius |
| Client: | Four H Company Ltd |
| Architect: | HKS Architects Ltd |
| Project Manager: | Aspire |
"Everything was beautiful and peaceful in that spot. I looked at the green stretch of the lagoon, the fringe of spray along the coral reef, and the white sand of the beach, the dunes, the sand mixed with spiky bushes, the dark filao woods, the shadows from the veloutiers and the Indian almond trees, and in front of us the eroded rock of Morne, like a castle filled with sea birds." J.M.G Le Clézio