Hotel La Pointe du Bout Les Trois îlets, Martinique | Budget: €40M - Surface area 7,000m² - France

Construction of a 5* eco-friendly hotel in Martinique

Mission : Analysis, Feasibility, Programming, Competition organization + Project Owner support

Analyse, étude de Faisabilité, Programmation architecturale, Organisation de Concours d'architecture + Suivi AMO assistance maîtrise d'ouvrage hôtel hôtellerie restaurant

Mission : Analysis, Feasibility, Programming, Competition organization + Project Owner support

The genesis
Context
Programming
Concours d’architecture
AMO study
AMO site
The winning project & the finalists

Patrick Vial Collet and Daniel Arnoux are the happy owners of the Karukera group, operators of the two most beautiful hotels in Guadeloupe: La Toubana (5*) and La Créole Beach (4*).
Having won a call for projects on one of the most beautiful sites in Martinique, the duo is embarking on a new large-scale project: building the most beautiful 5-star hotel in the Caribbean.

Patrick Vial Collet contacted us with the desire to organize an international architectural competition to find the perfect architect for this new project!

Hello Mathias,
We've just won a fabulous plot of land on which to build an exemplary project!
Is it possible to organize an architectural competition with you?
Hello Daniel
I'd love to! It's true that the site is incredible, and not to organize a contest there would be madness!
Perfect, can you visit us in Martinique soon?

Context

Martinique, a dream hotel

Located in the tourist and urbanized commune of Trois-Îlets, the Pointe du
Bout was an emblematic place when it housed the Meridian. The site has
today the astonishing characteristic to be at the same time a natural site
and an area of wasteland, with signs of pollution and illicit areas of occupation.

Martinique has classified the Pointe du Bout as a priority rehabilitation area.
The place is a arm of land flowing into the Caribbean Sea, it has a double
East/West exposure. It is bordered by white sand beaches created during the installation of the Meridien Hotel.

Abandoned, these beaches now reveal the stigma of the closure of the hotel.
To the east, the seashore is steep, exposed to the trade winds four months a year. The rock is rough, sharp, the sea is more agitated.
Between the two shores a vast, uncultivated plateau is gradually being reclaimed by nature.

The program

Beauty and humility

How to build a hotel complex of high architectural quality, while minimising its environmental impact and proposing sustainable and responsible construction techniques with respect to a local activity to be revitalized and perpetuated?
This issue has been a common thread throughout the program.

To imagine this unique hotel, we focused our research on 3 major topics:

Operating needs: understanding the key success factors of hotels already operated by Hotels and Islands was an obvious starting point for our programming work. Working closely with our clients, we spent time understanding what the secret ingredients were that made the group successful. Then, we mixed them with new ideas, new concepts to meet the requirements of this new project.
The local context: Building in Martinique is not like building anywhere else. The insular context with its economic, social and historical implications was a determining factor in the approach to programming. The objective of our work was to understand this context in order to create a unique, contextualized and feasible project!
Integration into the site: An extraordinary place, the Pointe du bout deserved to be treated with great care. Defining safeguards and recommendations for the least invasive integration of the site was a priority in our architectural programming work.

Architectural competition

A pandemic! Really?

After 2 intensive weeks of architectural programming, it’s time to organize the architecture competition!
Objective: to find the best team (architects, offices Designers, Landscape architects, acousticians etc) possible to carry out this project.

Patatra, a worldwide pandemic with a pangolin scandal, invites itself to the
program. What do we do? Launch the contest? Waiting? Start the race! While the world was at a standstill, we received more than 300 applications at the competition. After a difficult selection process we decided to select 5 teams to participate in the competition phase. Among them, the most famous agencies of the planet: Kengo Kuma, Philippe Starck, Snohetta, RDAI, AW2.
Nice program!

After 3 months of work, it is in Paris that the final jury was held, composed of shareholders of the investment consortium and the mayor of the Trois Ilets. After long procrastination, it is the Kengo Kuma’s exceptional project that was retained! And very rarely, we offer the RDAI team to handle the interior design in collaboration with Kengo Kuma. It’s a deal!

Studies Management

Under the benevolent gaze of the elders

During the study phase, we encountered a number of challenges which we managed to overcome to guarantee the launch of the worksite.

Firstly, from the outset of the project, we discovered archaeological remains on the site, requiring careful management to ensure their preservation while meeting project deadlines.

An appeal was then lodged against the building permit, but thanks to close collaboration with the relevant authorities, we were able to lift the appeal within the allotted time.

Finally, adjustments to the initial program were necessary to meet unforeseen technical or regulatory constraints, but thanks to our responsiveness and flexibility, we were able to adapt the schedule and available resources to keep the site on course for a successful launch.

Project Management

The possibility of an island

Construction is due to start in 2025.

The winning project

Kengo Kuma & Associates

A reinterpretation of the West Indian vernacular style, the timber-framed "huts" designed by Kengo Kuma won over the client. Combining simplicity and wonder, the project creates an essential dialogue with its natural surroundings.