Designed on Site: Four Seasons Resort Seychelles

Many children have daydreamed at one time or another of building the ultimate tree house. Rope ladders, doors that close from the inside and “real” chairs are usually the last word in state-of-the-art technologies and comfort.

Now suppose that one of those children grew up to build not just a tree house, but an entire tree house resort. More accurately, treetop villas—67 of them at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles.

Meet Cheong Yew Kuan, the principal architect of Area Designs, a Singapore-based architecture firm that has been instrumental in developing the Resort’s architecture.

“The Resort really wasn’t designed on paper, it was designed on site,” says Kuan. “I had the good fortune to spend many hours with the man who had surveyed the land. He knew the land intimately. We spent many hours walking up and down the hillside.”

A combination of steep, rocky terrain, building codes, sensitivity to the guest experience and concern for the environment led Kuan to the tree house villa approach.

“If we put the buildings on the ground, the rooms would all be submerged in the forest with no views, so we had to elevate these rooms so that on the ocean side they are just above the trees,” says Kuan. “By lifting the villas off the ground, the ground animals have the ground intact; the rain water flows as it always has; and the foliage can grow back.”

Because of the demands of the terrain and sometimes the location of trees Kuan didn’t want to cut, every villa is different in its exact configuration and the way it is situated on its site. Instead of rope ladders, doors that close from the inside and “real” chairs, these treetop villas offer private plunge pools and decks, as well as spectacular views of the vibrant blue-and-green waters of Petite Anse cove and the Indian Ocean.

Indigenous Influences

Impressed with the rich stew of culture in the Seychelles—French, English, African, Indian and Arab migrations have all added to the mix—Kuan decided to model the Resort on the diverse architecture of the islands:

• Kuan styled the villas after the dwellings of the local island people. The villas are folksy but sophisticated, reflecting a Creole sensibility. For instance, the rooms use unadorned panels of different colours as accents. The result is delicate in expression so that it doesn’t compete with the surrounding forest but rather blends with it.
• The main buildings—such as the lobby, restaurant and library—follow the Colonial French and English styles of the island. Based on town halls and other important buildings of the state, such as the governor-general’s house, these buildings are of a scale and presence that fits their purpose as shared public space.
• Kuan drew his inspiration for the Beach Club area from old plantation buildings, such as the smokehouses where coconuts were once cured. These buildings feature a lot of stone and have a solidity that suggests their walls will remain in place for thousands of years.
• The Spa, which is situated on the top of the hillside, required a different design approach. “I wanted the Spa to disappear and blend in with the environment as much as possible,” says Kuan. A key feature is the flat roof, which Kuan says suggests thinness against the massive, rocky hillside. The flat roof also lets people climb onto the roof decks to enjoy the exceptional view of the surrounding coastline, the ocean and the cove.

Looking Back

When asked about his favourite spot at the Resort, Kuan says he has several of them, including the view from the bay looking back at the landscape and its buildings.

“The most satisfying thing for me was to be able to blend the construction into a very pristine site,” says Kuan. “I feel the buildings blend in as well as assert themselves. That’s a combination I enjoy. I think that the Hotel has a personality that adds to the personality of the land. Together, they add up to a larger whole.”