Metsoke Dragot Hotel

STATUS: Conceptual Design

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The Dragot Cliffs Project is a hotel consisting of 150 units, about seven small buildings containing these units, and a large building which contains the entrance lobby, main pool, restaurant, spa, gym, shop, conference rooms, bar and more. The rooms are built of local stone combined with plaster in local desert colors. The hotel is built around a number of fascinating planning principles: The rooms - as in any hotel, are double rooms, family rooms and suites. However in addition,we have introduced an interesting concept of numbers of double rooms fenced in their own area. In other words, if several people want to book a place together they can book a villa (where there are no services like in hotels), or book separate rooms separated by a narrow and unattractive hallway. In the Dragot Cliffs Hotel however - it is possible to connect areas of rooms to a pool and a common courtyard, thus creating a new type of complex. The second unique planning principle is in regard to weather conditions. In the desert, the weather is extreme from heat, to cold and winds. For this purpose we created two traffic systems in the building: One is outdoor - walking on the roofs of the buildings, through the topography, terraces and paths. The second is internal - inside the buildings there is a connection through the mountains, so in extreme weather conditions you can move from the rooms, to the lobby, to the gyms and to the pools, without going outside. The third principle is the shape of the buildings. The shape was influenced by the shape of the rocks in the desert, which are buried in the mountains as part of the landscape and so is the hotel - its function is to be part of the landscape, to infuse a relaxed atmosphere with the surroundings and to flow with it. On top of that, thanks to the unique shape of the buildings, they actually produce shade on the ground, allowing for an outdoor stay in the shade. The final principle is the views - Positioning the buildings in the area in such a diagonal and separated manner, produces multiple views in all directions, and allows opening of all the rooms in the hotel. In addition, the entrance is a straight quarry of a path inside the mountain to create an interesting contrast, and emphasize the entrance from the outside world to the natural world- into the mountain. In this way, the entrance produces “drama.” With a very narrow front door. The guest enters a compound in front of which the whole view will be revealed to you.

Metsoke Dragot