Creating a luxury landscape

"Five star hotels mainly go for the beauty. You see a lot of flowers, expensive plants. They spend more and the inspection of the maintenance is much higher. The standards are very high."

Seamless integration of the outdoor space with the rest of the hotel is another indicator of a five star resort. At The Westin, this has been done, Heinig explains, by picking out details of the architecture and interior design in the landscape.

In the front garden, for example, feature elements in the form of small pillars reflect the overall style of the hotel architecture. In the exterior space, details from paving to ornament reflect the language of the building.

Integration of the different design elements is also seen in the outward layout of the exterior garden and orientation of the beach garden to make the most of the sea views.

One of the challenges at the design stage was making sure that the outdoor design integrated not only with the design of the interior and the architecture, but also with the outdoor space of the neighbouring Le Meridien Mina Seyahi hotel, which is also part of the complex, next door.

This was done through edge design, says Heinig. "Edge design was addressed through careful material design. The design critically manipulated the planting palette to create a seamless yet distinct environment. Links and connections were carefully yet strategically seamed in with the existing surroundings."

Another challenge at the construction stage was in selecting a plant palette hardy enough to survive the salt and heavy winds. Plants used include Pennisetums for shrubs and Sesuvium for ground cover.

It's still early days for The Westin Dubai, the first hotel under The Westin brand to open in the Middle East, but so far it certainly seems to have been well received.

The hotel reported high occupancy rates during its first few months of business and reviews have been generally positive. The design of the outdoor space is only one of a number of design elements to a hotel but in a region where a large amount of leisure time is spent outdoors, it can be said to play no small part in ensuring The Westin's success.

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