Beach project, any ideas??

mateo soletic

I know that weekend is here and the forum is going
to slow down but ill give it a try anyway.
We have been engaged to do a project that consists
of 4 (four) beaches for a leading company here.
They are located on a shoreline strip that are mostly
on combination of rock and sand areas.
They are not directly connected and they are
to serve clients of 4-5 star hotels . There are 5
hotels in all that are to share those beaches
but the beaches are not directly connected to the hotels.
The Idea I had is to try to create something
different and original. Each beach is to have a character
of its own. One can be say called pirates cave and
should follow that visual theme with the signage and all.
second one a fishermans retreat and so.. These are just
some preliminary thoughts.
I did some lurking around looking at different
stuff on the web but didnt find much. Maybe I
should look around thematic parks...
Any ,ideas, models, materials, trends, experience,
links.. past projects to share.

All the help is more than wellcome.

Thanks,
Mateo

mateo soletic

This is an existing eastwest beach club
at a different location in my town.
Although I would like to create something
new and different.

Gaieus

The idea of these "thematic" beaches is great, I think (just do not go to the extreme with fish smell in the fishermen's retreat for instance).
There ar those Uskok pirates there and some romantic bullsh***t (sorry) always sells well (especially now as those Pirates of the Carribbean movies have been released).

In my opinion, the one you showed the pictures of seems to be even a bit "sterile" for a beach so I'd go ahead and create a bit more "shabby" looking for at least those two ideas you mentioned. Some torn fishnets hanging near an old trabaccolo half ashore givges some real taste to the scene.

Some other ideas could be: Pacific theme, one with families with children maybe (if you do this, choose the shallowest beach if that exists at all there) etc.

solo

This is a dream project, you seem to get some really great commissions.

The themed beaches sounds so exciting. I would use 'Destinations' as a theme, the worlds beaches in one place.

I would look at:

Mykanos - The white buildings with varying blue highlights
Miami - very vibrant, colorful which explodes at night as the 'in spot' with reflective neons shimmering as caustics.
Morrocco - tent style, open seating with linens, cushions and decorative walls and shiny domes.
New England, cottage style theme. Sun aged woods with blue and white fold out chairs, picket fences lining the beach (red and white or blue and white stripped theme)

I would not use a European based theme as that is readily available, so pick a theme from somewhere 'out there' that folk can enjoy, almost like a trip abroad.

mateo soletic

Grat ideas allready , thanks guys i love the romantic feel-Gai and the new england theme-solo- is really interesting.
This is something that i gathered so far.

solo

The whole Tiki Hawaaii theme is also great, thatched roofs, beach bars, tropical feeling (not sure about the Palms though, that will be dependant of your vegetation zone)

solo

mateo soletic

Solo
Those look great .
About the great commisions, Yes I have to admit
that some great opportunities are opening for
us at the moment. The reason lies mainly in the
fact that we have always tried to give the client
more than we expected to get in return in financial
terms and that had to bear its rewards sometime.
Now we have a need for creative architects and
designers because there are only two of us doing
the whole thinking and the projects are just piling.

solo

Cape Cod

mateo soletic

Those last seem a bit too cold for our meditarenean temperament .
Here are some umbrellas i photographed last week while in another town.

solo

Just give me a shout if ever you help on a creative project, it would be great to do something exciting again.

The Miami theme

solo

I agree the thatched umbrellas work well.

mateo soletic

Thanks Solo ,will do,If You get some good links in the meantime feel free to post this is an ongoing project,and Ill be keeping You informed.
Thanks.

Edson

hi mateo,

since you ask for suggestions i will give you an opinion. it is just my way of seeing things so please do not get annoyed at my sincerity.

i would not go for the theme park idea. leave it to disney and for cenographers. what the world does not need is more fake stuff. why pretend to be somewhere else than the place where those beaches are?

why do you not go for authenticity? i would try and uncover the local character (the so called genius loci) and accentuate it.

a theme park project will get old in a few years (to me they are born dead but anyway). something authentic may be interesting for decades or centuries. but you are the one to decide what to do.

Gaieus

Giving the fact that there are four beaches and if Mateo wants to give a special character to each, there should be some difference and most probably not only in the arrangements of bars and sunbrellas.

The first two that he picked (pirates and fishermen) are actually quite authentic for the region - true the pirates may be outdated by now.

True that quite faraway places may not be a good idea to "copy".

They could even be "separated" by activity though. One for more sporty like things, the other for recreation and rest, sunbathing etc.

mateo soletic

Edson ,

Thank You for Your interesting and usefull comments.
Yesterday I was watching a film shot in Brasil
and there was a remark someone said :
Brasil is more than a country it is a
sensation .

Your country is renovned for its copacabana
Beach, samba and outdoor life.
You have a tradition in that.
Do You know that one of the major beaches in
Dubrovnik is called Copacabana.Its been called
like that for the last thirty years.
I am sure that there would be some interesting
details however small that we could adopt
from Your part of the world and in a subtle way
incorporate into a local atmosphere.

An example of this would be a palm tree.
We have had palm trees in my area for centuries.
But never until recently did someone (see my photo
above) start using the leaves to cover beach bars and
make umbrellas. Is that genuine or not.
Not in the fact that we have used it before -we didnt.
Could we have used it Yes but we didnt use anything.
During my childhood days and that was the 70s 80s
we lived in comunism and the beaches were empty.
(Gaieus -You remember that)
The last thing someone had in mind is to design a beach.

And tell You what , the umbrellas look great and everyone loves
them. This little detail gives place a charm.

Another issue is the fact that we have to fulfill the
expectation of the owners and that of the guests.
I know that the owners will be expecting great
moves and the guests will probably be expecting
local authenticity as You have said.

What if our local beach ways are like i mentioned
above boring for the owners and dont meet the
expectations of the guests and need to be accencuated
with some fresh imported ideas.

This is what I was thinking about .
The last thing I would want is to make Disneyland
out of this.

Edson if You come across some ideas from Your
part of the world that could be incorporated here , again in a subtle manner Ill be more than gratefull.

Thanks in advance.
Mateo

Gaieus

I was there in the early 80s with a lot of people around - maybe not in 4 and 5 star hotels though but i liked it...

not registered yet

Don't overlook the forgotten era of the Tiki bar. These Polynesian fantasy environments were popular in the US back in the 50's. They were built as theme bars with their own exotic style of art, design, music, and drink. There are a lot of images on the web and a great book on the style is available on amazon.com - The Book of Tiki by Sven A. Kirsten.

-Gordon

P: gmurray

mateo soletic

@unknownuser said:

Don't overlook the forgotten era of the Tiki bar. These Polynesian fantasy environments were popular in the US back in the 50's. They were built as theme bars with their own exotic style of art, design, music, and drink. There are a lot of images on the web and a great book on the style is available on amazon.com - The Book of Tiki by Sven A. Kirsten.

-Gordon

Thanks Gordon, thats what I had in mind kind
of shabby look but with more local materials
like rough local stone wood...

Edson

mateo,

what i was referring to is the idea of making one or all beaches follow a consistent look (miami, copacabana, it does not really matter).

but i have nothing against umbrellas, trees, etc. my suggestions would be to create pergolas, bars with verandahs, places for groups and couples. you can get a warmth-feeling arrangement with wood, bamboo, fabric, color. all this without resembling directly another place.

once i saw in florida how they create wooden walkways over the dunes, a great way to protect the environment and still be able to use it.

decks are a good idea too, people like wood everywhere. another idea would be to create some kind of pool with sea water, much in the way siza did in the outskirts of oporto.

i hope i helped you in some way.