The Four Seasons Wailea in Maui is set on the scenic rocky cove of Wailea beach where, over 35 years ago, the resort was originally planned with a design concept celebrating the journey of water flowing to the sea from nearby volcanic highlands.  As the narrative goes, along the way these primeval streams encountered natural features that produced fountains and pools, and here the resort–with its parade of fountains and pools–found its home.

Our design was blessed with finding one of these lyrical water features smack in the middle of our site, the fountain at the heart of the lobby, although at first we were at a loss for how to work with a fountain of this scale and style.

Upon our first visit we witnessed the daily rituals of the lobby: early morning work sessions, daytime cultural workshops, and at sunset a golden light illuminating the entire lobby space, drawing guests from across the resort to revel in the view and the daily performance of dance and music that comes with the close of each day. The life of the space was clear, and what was needed was a more definitive language of design and a sense of meaning and connection for the areas of the lobby that–until our design–felt isolated by the grand fountain.

Maybe it was just the recent swinging of the pendulum across the Sottsass - Graves territory of the stylistic spectrum, or maybe it was our own eventual discovery of Maui as a landscape of "geometric primitives"--like the vast conical mountain rising up behind the resort–but with some time we came to see the resort architecture as a sophisticated complement to its natural surroundings and decided to embrace this story of big bold unapologetic shapes as the language in which to detail the lobby's furniture, wall finishes and millwork.

With references to lava floes, river stones, driftwood, liana and bedrock, our language of details took shape.  Materials involved natural finish teak woods, rattan of various sizes in the lighting and furniture, lava stone, quartzites, pillowed limestones that felt both airy and at once of the earth, and earth tone colors that ranged from corals to turquoise.

Of special note, the light fixture above the fountain as well as related fixtures over the sushi counter, reception and concierge desks were all devised to speak to the language of bold geometry while at the same time bringing an aspect of hand-woven textures and natural materials to this expansive and hard-finished space.

Concept in the detail and craft

As with any Atelier Pond project, custom furniture and decorative lighting elements were key to the design. Working with renown lighting designers L’Obervatoire International for overall ambience and controls, and with Ricardo Lighting as well as Lusive for fabrication of custom pieces, our team used large scale light fixtures as beacons, marking key design elements, new and old. The pieces over the sushi counter, reception, concierge and grand fountain worked in essence to recenter the energy of the lobby, making the Komo sushi venue—set at the back of the space—a more vibrant part of the experience overall.

Guests lounge in the lobby space from early morning until late at night, with portions of the day filled by cultural programming, muiscal performances, drinking and dining. Custom furniture and casegoods throughout the lobby are built to allow for the wide range of functions. Large lounge chairs swivel from sunset view to face the internal stage area. Console tables integrate lighting and service elements. All pieces share a language of form inspired by the Maui landscape.

Discoveries

Reflecting on the results at the Maui lobby, we realized something about our practice. After years of doing thoughtful renovations on celebrated luxury hotel projects, a pattern in Atelier Pond expertise has emerged. It turns out that we’re skilled practitioners in the understated art of evolving existing spaces so that they can realize the full potential of what was already there. In simple terms…

Through our artful renovation projects we help destinations to become what they were always meant to be.

This was especially true at the Four Seasons Wailea, where our project began with an intuitive reading of the existing architecture, followed by research of the resort’s initial design concepts. Through this process we came to realize the significance of the central fountain, initially seen as an obstacle in connecting the new Komo venue to the central lobby areas. Instead, inspired by the original concept of water flowing to the sea, we found new vitality in this feature as we gathered seating, planting, tile finishes and a sculptural light feature around it, altogether making a hearth-like composition for convivial gathering.