Grand Hyatt Kuwait: a grand architectural statement that delivers on a promise of a uniquely sumptuous experience
Considered one of Kuwait’s most anticipated and impressive hospitality developments in recent years, Grand Hyatt Kuwait has begun the countdown to its official opening later this year. The impressive property, which marks a major milestone for both Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Kuwait based owners, Tamdeen roup, has already made a mark for itself as a new architectural landmark.
Distinctive in its design and grand aesthetic, the hotel seeks to position itself as an urban sanctuary within a larger destination that has a unique story to tell. The 302-key luxury urban escape, with its impressive and majestic architectural design, delivered courtesy of architecture firm, CallisonRTKLÂ (CRTKL) aims to set itself apart with signature guest experiences.
We speak to hotel designer Dustin Wekesser, Associate Principal at CRTKL about the inspiration and motivation behind the project.
Where did the conversation with the client begin, and what was their brief?
From the initial kick-off, our client Tamdeen was keen on creative thinking and how it drives high-performance design. They fully supported and encouraged the architecture team to explore unique solutions to the complex challenges associated with this project. The primary design directive for the Grand Hyatt was to design a hotel that blended into the architectural fabric of the surroundings and their entire 360 Mall development, while still giving the hotel its own distinct identity.
“The design needed to visually link to the rest of the expansion project internally and externally and provide a seamless guest experience between all the internal programs. While the hotel was its own building, it was necessary for it to feel intertwined with the rest of the entire development.
Tell us about some of the new design features that were unique to this project.
The most noticeable design feature, which has become synonymous with the hotel, is the pattern on the exterior and interior screens. Initially incorporated as an external shading device, the screens design evolved to be much more than simply reducing the solar heat gain from large swaths of glazing. The team studied the percentage of openings and module scales and developed a gradient pattern that transitions from entirely opaque at the screen’s top to 75% open at eye level. This design provides adequate shade on the glass, while maintaining guest views from the interior and light filtration throughout all the public spaces. The parametric pattern was utilised in various ways across the exterior, maintaining a consistent design aesthetic, while providing a necessary purpose, combating the intense summer heat in the region.
Can you talk about the use of materials throughout?
With the materials, it was essential to connect to the original 360 Mall and new mall expansion while creating an independent identity for the Grand Hyatt with new materials, textures, and elements. To link the projects, portions of the Sunny Egyptian stone on the mall’s exterior overlap the hotel at the base to blur the transition between the buildings. On the interior, we worked with the designers, Meyer Davis to extend portions of the mall flooring, interior stone, and patterns through the hotel interior to show additional overlaps and coordination between the different entities.
To distinguish the hotel, we selected various contrasting Italian marbles that provided a more refined elegance. A white Grey Su adorns the tower, a soft grey Cardoso for the podium, and pure white Calcutta Oro, with heavy grey veining for the arrival and hotel entry points. The white GRP fins and screens then complemented these monochromatic stones on the exterior, allowing the play of light and shadow to accentuate the building further.
Detail-wise, we designed a fully custom screen utilising Geolam wood. We developed a unique application of their product to shade the exterior terraces using a product capable of withstanding sand and intense heat. At the entries, we designed a pattern inspired by our screen design that was CNCed into the Calcutta Oro stone and used as a gateway to the hotel at each access point. Small accents were used throughout by designing custom-lighted bollards and stone extrusions, further highlighting the project at night with our lighting design.
How did you tackle issues surrounding sustainability?
The hotel is positioned on the southwest corner of the 360 expansion, exposing it to the intense afternoon sunlight with summer temperatures reaching 46°C (116°F). The design of the hotel’s facades passively combats solar heat gain and addresses the solar orientation of the site and the effects of the region’s harsh climate. The tower curtain wall was designed with a 15-degree negative incline to reduce direct exposure from overhead sunlight, while vertical fins between each guestroom bay further shade the glazing as the sun angle drops later in the day. These solutions on the tower reduced the solar heat gain by over 25%.
At the podium, exterior screens shade the glass while maintaining light filtration and views. These screens significantly drop the temperature at the hotel’s porte-cochere and ensure that all the interior spaces have ample daylighting without increased temperatures.
What was the most challenging part about this project?
The most challenging aspect for the hotel was that it was not a standalone building; rather, it connects fully to the 360 Mall expansion. The nuance of planning the entire development to appear perfectly seamless from the guest perspective yet completely disparate for operations and structural needs took considerable time and coordination. We rigorously choreographed arrivals and connections with two-level connections for guests arriving by cars and multiple direct guest connections to the mall and performance arena, in addition to the perfunctory back-of-house parking, loading dock, staff entries, and mechanical spaces. These connections required planning to ensure that they worked operationally and adhered to local building codes for independent egress and fire protection. It was no small task, but the time spent carefully planning circulatory paths were significant to improve the guest experience.
How would you describe this project in three words?
We would describe the Grand Hyatt Kuwait project as responsible, elegant and high-performance.
