New World Phu Quoc Resort by One Landscape Design Limited

2023 Hospitality / Vietnam / Built in 2021 /
one-landscape.com/

Located in the southwest side of Phu Quoc, New World Phu Quoc Resort enjoys the unobstructed connection with Kem Beach prompting the resort to be one of the most popular destinations for friends and family holidays. The resort offers 375 villas each equipped with a private swimming pool. There are also a wide range of activities available for guests with the 120m long swimming pool as the key attraction of all.

Phu Quoc is a destination of distinct landscape and the brief was to create a new destination for Phu Quoc rooted to both natural and culture context.

The unique land-culture philosophy in landscape design plays a pivotal role in creating a destination and addressing the brief with a design rooted in culture and context. . At the macro scale, zoning of spaces and activities is inspired by the unique coastal landscape of Phu Quoc Island where palm groves, lagoons and dunes embellish the domain between the mountain and the sea portraying gradation of the natural landscape. At the micro scale, delicate elements derived from the rich cultural and productive landscape of the traditional fish sauce manufacturing and pepper farming industries are interpreted and adopted in forms of pavilions, bridges, and lighting bollards.

Space planning of the resort focuses on ease of legibility and robust use of spaces, while reflecting the coastal landscape character in the spatial zoning. The Lagoon Zone serves as the key orienting feature where it is further differentiated into passive and active parts according to the water activities proposed. Green fingers at the Dune Zone are provided to connect villa clusters whereby guest can enjoy the landscape passageway as much as any outdoor landscape areas. The area of hardscape was used only where necessary leaving the rest of the areas as verdant as possible. This helps in bringing a feeling of calmness and softness in the entire development. Nature in the form of water features, trees and gardens became key elements and the main driver of guest experiences.

Landscape experience commences at the ceremonial entry to the lobby building. Ramp driveway with terraced gardens on both sides frame a grand arrival gesture terminating at the arrival plaza with the central reflective pool and water gardens.

The exploration of landscape then continues through the Lagoon Zone acting as the central feature of the entire resort providing both passive and active enjoyments of the one-of-a-kind resort water experience. The Green Lagoon starts at the rear of the lobby building with cascading water feature subsequently joins with the water planting corridor where series of landscape paths, decks and platforms provide ideal places for passive activities and viewing.

In contrast to the tranquil Green Lagoon, the Blue Lagoon displays an energetic and exciting ambient for active activities. The 120m long infinity-edged swimming pool houses the lap pool with floating islands, water play zones, pool bar and sun decks creating leisure poolside places for family gathering and water activities. The infinity edge of this dramatic pool then mergers with the sea, extending the landscape beyond, only interrupted by occasional loungers along the white magical sands of Kem beach.

The villa landscapes are distinct with themes inspired by the palm groves, lagoon and dunes through colour, material and planting palette. Intricate network of green fingers between the villa clusters with characters emulating coastal dune landscape form the village greens as one of the key public activity areas within the resort.

From the operator perspective, the design is very simple using local materials which is easy to maintain and replace when necessary. All the vegetation are local coastal species like palm and used in their most natural form to reduce major maintenance work including continuous pruning. Moreover, a lot of flexible open green spaces are incorporated in the design so they could be used in multiple ways helping in catering a variety of events and activities. Water features are always difficult to maintain and taking this into account the water features are design to perform specific roles. From guest perspective, the design is practical in two ways, firstly legibility and ease of wayfinding and secondly use of material, both hard and soft.

The design does incorporate sustainability aspects in its implementation. Minimum cut-and-fill was done during construction and whatever additional material was excavated was salvaged on site in form of undulating green dune landscape. Though it is dense development the landscape design was instrumental in bringing as much green as possible and reduce the use of hardscape. Local vegetation was used in the design and all the water for irrigation came from treated grey water. Feature lagoons was introduced in the design not only as visual features but also part of water retention. Furthermore, they helped in reducing the ambient temperature in and around villa clusters.