Thematic dossier

Since Plato, Atlantis makes us dream

Sorin ZDRAHAL

It has been a pleasure to give a brief presentation of some of the more special projects I have been working on over the last 40 years since I left the country.
As a graduate of the "Ion Mincu" Institute of Architecture - class of 1976, because this issue of ARHITECTURA magazine deals with the achievements of some of our school's graduates who have mainly worked abroad.
These are projects that I consider relevant and that define my career. The 3 major projects are Atlantis Bahamas, Atlantis Dubai and several Ritz-Carlton hotels in Hawaii. I have also included photos of other important projects, mainly for their exotic style and location. Strangely, in reviewing these projects, I find that they reflect very little of the energy, creativity, hard work and multidisciplinary interaction required to realize them! When you look at the few photos of each project, you realize that they illustrate too little of the nature of the whole process.
How small and insignificant we feel when we have to summarize a 40-year career in a few pages and a few photos! Nevertheless, I am proud of what I have been able to achieve, even though the architecture I have promoted is appreciated by some critics and does not rise to the level to which others do not even dare to criticize it!
Here's a funny story about the arrogance with which we are often judged. We wanted to hire a renowned architect for a project we were going to tender for in Singapore and decided to approach Calatrava. His wife, who is also his business partner and whom I met in New York, wanted to know more about our firm - Kerzner Intl. and our projects. I was prepared with a well put together marketing package, which included Atlantis Resorts, Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino, all of our exclusive One & Only resorts, etc. As she was going through the document, the expression on her face changed to disgust! I thought she was going to throw up, then and there! Needless to say, she refused to work with us. We were obviously very far from the level of high quality architecture for which her husband was renowned! Then... we hired Frank Gehry! Everything was perfect, the concept was very good and we lost the bid together. This is the context in which we fight in our profession!

But back to the projects we won. The first Atlantis resort that we did in the Bahamas was built on a story that we created about a fantastic civilization adapted to life under the sea, describing many of its "inventions" that facilitated its existence from the deep ocean. It was bizarre, but we were all gripped by the vision and created a set that looked as we see it today, where the inhabitants of Atlantis could live underwater, with the unusual means of survival that they had created and that scientists are still trying to understand today. Thousands of tourists walking with their children through the "Tunnel" of the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas - the underground aquarium that simulates the streets and tunnels of the lost continent of Atlantis - left amazed, wondering if what they had seen was really real!
For an architect, the feeling of having created an environment structured entirely around a story and seeing tourists amazed by the 'authentic' realization of all the artifacts and decorative elements and truly delighted to have visited such a place is priceless.
The Atlantis Hotel on Dubai's Palmier Island was the continuation of the Atlantis brand - which has become a tourism industry attraction and a tremendous recognition of the name as a must-visit with the family.
We created the arch between the two towers as a 'symbolic' image associated with the Atlantida brand, to represent the location in one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the UAE. We worked with the developer of Palmier Island from the very early stages, when sand was being dredged from the sea to build this incredible representation which was promoted by the Dubai government as 'visible from space'! Our project was given a central position in the 'Crescent' surrounding the palm's ruffled crown on which single-family dwellings were built alongside multi-family buildings.
We were able to convince the developer to build an underwater tunnel to bring a four-lane highway to our project, which in time would serve future developments throughout the Crescent. In addition, we secured the construction of a monorail to be used in our water park, called "Aquaventure", which has about 10,000 visitors a day! The monorail connects the Atlantis Hotel to the public parking building, located where Palmier Island meets the shore. All these major infrastructure adaptations were built for our project because, at that time, there were no other constructions on the "Crescent"! The strength of the brand and its worldwide recognition influenced the Crown Prince to approve an extremely expensive undertaking.

The other projects, such as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kapalua, Hawaii, and the Orchid Hotel in Mauna Lani, are simpler resort projects. It is interesting to note that for the Ritz Hotel in Kapalua, we were not the architects originally selected by the development team. Another firm drew up a design based on extensive documentation and, when they started construction, discovered a sacred Hawaiian burial ground. Construction was immediately halted. After many complicated approval processes and several years, the hotel site was moved from the beach to the hillside to save the cemetery. At that point, the development team at the Ritz decided that a new project was needed and turned to WATG. I was appointed project manager.

It was a favorable opportunity for us to design and build a wonderful resort on the north end of Maui Island in Hawaii. It was a great pleasure to realize this project!
Enough information to present an activity that is based on the wonderful education I received studying at the "Ion Mincu" Institute of Architecture!