Mauna Lani Bay Hotel

Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and its twenty-nine-acre oceanfront, oasis-invoking grounds rise miragelike above the rugged sixteenth-century lava flow surrounding the resort's entrance drive. The Y-shaped, five-hundred-room building retains a strong horizontality despite its six-story height, thanks to expansive lanai located between the precast-concrete structural piers. Setback stories give a battered effect to the oceanfront base of the Y, adding an extra visual dynamic that further roots the building to the earth. The porte-cochere extends outward from the junction of the Y, its blue tile paving transitioning the visitor from a hard surface, exterior world to an interior filled with the sense of outdoors. Blue flooring flows across a bridge which traverses a lushly landscaped pond and continues into the lobby. The tile floor is interrupted by glass-block pavers serving as a skylight for a lower-level store, and then moves to the edge of a six-story, open-air atrium with its palm-enshrouded tropical lagoon. The sides of the atrium open out to the grounds beyond, with winding pathways following waterways inhabited by tropical fish.