THE KNOT HOTEL

Student Project: Commercial Thesis | FIDM 2011 | Instructor: Christian Kienapfel

Tasked with designing a hotel anywhere in the world, I chose to pay homage to my home, Guam. A small island with a deep history of colonialism, I wanted to highlight a Chamorro folklore that I grew up with. A giant tourist attraction in Tamuning, Guam is ‘Two Lover’s Point’— a cape and seaside cliff where it was said that two doomed lovers who could not be together, tied their hair into a single knot and leapt to their death. The location is on the north shore of Guam, overseeing the popular Tumon Bay. It’s a high traffic area, as it’s the most famous landmark of the island. The focus is on the restaurant located inside the hotel. I wanted to bring in the warmth of tones found within the location and juxtaposed with industrial elements that serve as decorative and structural elements as well. Typhoon season was kept in mind when designing and I wanted the space to have a grounding feeling with commercial-grade materials. Durable finishes, such as reclaimed wood, performance fabric and food grade commercial lighting were chosen through-out the space. Plans drafted in autoCAD, material selection created on Illustrator + InDesign and presented to class for semester final.