Oceanic Tradition

A trapezoidal, 500-seat ballroom covered in a white stucco façade punctuated by geometric openings—similar to that of an Arabic lantern’s exterior—glows at night to let the Al Mouj community know they are welcome.

Further down the entry road, a separate lobby flanked in glass and topped with a flat plane roof is marked in a traditional Middle Eastern ornamental pattern typically used for screens. The pavilion itself is very simple on the outside, but once guests walk in and look up, they find a series of columns that splay out into a circular form at the top to give a sense of a lily pond that is inspired by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos’ Al Alam Palace.

Once guests travel through the entry pavilion, they are greeted by an outdoor courtyard with several large, man-made ponds and pools that appear to spill out onto the oceanfront. Enclosed by the white, geometric 395-room hotel, the public space is broken up by public gathering spaces, flat bridges, and plants.

Environments are arranged in an accessible hierarchy starting with fully public, then semipublic, semiprivate, and finally private spaces, in that order. Depending on a guest’s needs, there are 18 commercial facilities—such as restaurants and gyms—and 13 meeting rooms for business guests. But the most significant offering is the journey one takes while visiting.