This project is a work in progress, check back often to view the latest developments in the project
I am currently working on a hotel in Sakhir, Bahrain. This project was first designed in 2022 when I saw an existing hotel design and thought of my ideas. I then used this to create a SketchUp model, but with no scale, thought, or further research. The project was then delayed until April 2024 while I worked on other projects. After returning to the design with much new knowledge, I spent more time researching and subsequently changed almost every design aspect.
Original Proposed Site & Design
This site (image from Google Earth) was the original proposed site for my design. However, this was chosen due to the size requirements of the building, which later research indicated would be inappropriate for the site.
These are some initial sketches of the building proposal, however, these were created before I learnt the importance of a site and how the site and building will work together in a design.
This is an image of my SketchUp file with the original proposed building.
New Proposed Site
Site Analysis
After revisiting this project in 2024, I created a site plan to understand the conditions of the site and how they will affect and be affected by my design. It was during this process that I realised the key idea behind my design of a hotel overlooking the racetrack wouldn’t be possible from this site. This is due to its distance from the track and the required height to achieve the views desired. This therefore led to the decision to move the hotel into the racetrack itself, with views from 3 sides.
Precedent Studies
After completing the site analysis, I had already begun to think of new ideas for my design. However, I first started by studying existing similar designs to see how they achieved their design goals and how this could influence my design. The two projects I chose were the Sakhir Tower (or BIC Tower) and the Shangri-La Hotel in The Shard.
I will continue to add to this research as the project progresses, particularly during any new developments within the project.
Bubble Diagrams
Once I had begun to understand the site and projects that could influence my design, I started to think about the spatial layout of my project. I began by creating a series of basic bubble diagrams for each floor, with the rooms and connections required for each space. This then developed into a more detailed series of diagrams where I started to consider the overall shape of the building as well. I had started with the idea of using a ‘C’ shape since it ties in nicely with the abbreviation of BIC. After considering each floor and how the connections would work, I created a series of C shapes and began roughly filling in the layout from the bubble diagram. After determining I was happy with the shape and layout, I started to work on scaled versions of the floor plans to further assess if my proposed layout could work in the design.
Initial Proposed Site Plan (Simple)
Before creating scaled floor plans, I first created a scaled version of the site with a simple plan view of what the building will look like on the site. This helped guide my drawings and ensuring the building responds well to environmental factors
First Draft Floor Plans
These draft floor plans allowed me to scale each room and check the spatial layout of each floor in my design. It also allowed me to practice my drawing skills and ensure precision within the drawings. Once I was happy with the quality of the drawings, I moved into AutoCAD to begin creating a digital version of the floorplans for the final 3D SketchUp Model.
Hotel Room Layout
In the first drafts, the hotel rooms were only marked with their area using brief research online. However, to create more detailed CAD plans, I created more detailed plans for the rooms themselves. My research began by considering each room’s total floor area:
Currently, the area available for each room stands at: Standard = 59m2, Deluxe = 94m2 & Premium = 152m2. Using this information, I started to work out the features that would populate each room.
This project is a work in progress, check back often to view the latest developments in the project