Designing a property's grounds is a balancing act in terms of aesthetics and logistics. Whether the hotels are focused on sustainability or on growing supplies for their restaurants and bars, landscape architects are coming up with a wide range of solutions to keep outdoor spaces attractive, functional and ecological.
1. Protecting Ecology
Landscape architecture firm EDSA developed the exterior and landscape elements of Etéreo, an Auberge Resorts property that opened in Mexico’s Riviera Maya in December. The grounds include protected wetlands, landscape architect Pablo Massari said, so the buildings were placed to minimize disruption to the ground itself. Elevated walkways connect the structures, bridging over the plants and animals below rather than disrupting their habitats.
2. Selecting Plant Life
The JW Marriott, Anaheim (Calif.) Resort has a tranquility garden on the second-floor rooftop for both guest use and for growing restaurant ingredients. Swati Patel, SVP of development and design at co-owning company Prospera Hotels, said the design team measured sun and soil to determine what plants could grow where. The deck has a mixture of soil trays and planters, with bamboo and olive trees—which need more soil—in the latter.
3. Relocation
The Kimpton Angler’s South Beach in Miami Beach, Fla., recently added an organic garden to a breezeway that provides herbs and microgreens for the hotel’s restaurant and bar. GM Sinem Kaya said the hotel team worked with Little River Corp. to relocate the bamboo that had been growing in the space so the herbs could get the sunlight and water they needed.
4. Native Materials
When creating outdoor spaces, using materials that are native to an area can help reduce maintenance needs and the items are less prone to pests and fungus growth. “We never use anything that is not native,” Massari said, noting that sourcing materials from far away can turn into “a procurement nightmare.”