Boutique Wellness Resort Interior Design

Coral Palmata Resort & Spa

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Boutique Wellness Resort Interior Design

Coral Palmata Resort & Spa

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A Boutique Wellness Resort on The Red Sea, Where the Lobby, Restaurant, Bar, Spa and Guest Rooms Are Shaped by Coral Shapes, Falling Water and the Movement of Light

  • The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Coral Palmata Resort & Spa is a boutique wellness resort on The Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, designed by Nar Design Studio, the Miami based interior design firm. The commission covered the full guest experience: the arrival lobby, Gorgonian Bar and Lounge, Meandrina Restaurant, a rooftop bar, the spa, the fitness center and the typical guest rooms. The interiors take the coral reef as an elusive abstraction rather than a motif. The reef appears as structure, as texture, and as the behavior of light through water, never as ornament. Every common area carries the name of a coral species and its own color, form and material logic, so each venue reads as a distinct environment inside one destination.

Nar Design Studio developed the project as a complete hotel and resort interior design commission, covering interior architecture, interior design, space planning, lighting design, custom furniture and millwork, art integration, and FF&E. On hospitality projects the studio’s scope extends through specification, procurement, vendor management, construction coordination, installation and final styling, so the design direction reaches opening day intact. Public areas, food and beverage venues, wellness facilities, circulation and accommodation were planned as one guest journey rather than as separate interiors.

ARRIVAL

The arrival sets the language immediately. A reception counter of pale sculpted stone runs the length of the lobby wall, its front face folding into a tapered point that lifts clear of the light silver travertine floor, so the mass reads as carved rather than built. Every line in the room is drawn as moving water: the fold of the counter, the curve of the ceiling reveals, the edge of the stair beyond. Reception and self check in are absorbed into that single gesture. Above it, a dense installation of bronze fan coral spreads across wall and ceiling, and a backlit ellipse carrying a fine relief drawn from coral surface is recessed overhead, the first appearance of a lighting strategy that returns in every part of the resort.

The walls are finished in a limewash whose grain and softness read as sand, a quiet ground against which the harder materials register. Beyond reception the lobby opens into seating rooms carved out of the volume itself: swivel armchairs and curved sofas in oatmeal linen, round tables on bronze bases, and carpets woven with an organic relief taken from shell and coral texture, their curved edges doing the work of walls. Overhead, clusters of mirrored glass spheres in smoked and plum read as bubbles rising through the reef, bringing reflection and movement down to the scale of the seated guest. A sculptural stair spirals against a wall of falling water, and that water, the reflection, and the shift from deep burgundy marble to light silver travertine carry through into the elevator hall, where a backlit wall of coral relief faces the lifts across a floor that returns it in full.

VENUES, WELLNESS AND REST

Gorgonian Bar and Lounge takes its branching reference overhead. A coral form in deep red spreads across the ceiling and does the work of an enclosure, marking the bar as its own destination on an open floor. The bar counter is clad in textured stone above a brown veined marble in the slate grey and silver wave family, its movement running like current through the room, and rust boucle stools, round travertine tables, cream leather and an illuminated bottle display hold the space at a social scale rather than a ceremonial one. Meandrina Restaurant and the rooftop bar follow the same method, each drawing palette, lighting and custom detail from its own coral species and its own hour of use.

The spa marks its threshold without a door. A reception desk carved as a single rounded boulder of pale stone sits lit from beneath, beside a planted stand of slender trees set in white pebbles against a backlit wall of fine timber battens, with an oval ceiling panel of rippled relief glowing above the timber floor. The fitness center takes the opposite position, opening to palms and the sea behind floor to ceiling glass, its training zones separated by a change of floor material rather than by partitions and lit by a suspended fixture of glowing organic panels.

The guest rooms carry the same language at lower volume. Upholstered headboard walls, cove lit ceiling reveals, and a wall panel of rippled relief washed by concealed light replace the more expressive gestures of the public floors, giving each room a focal point that changes with the hour. Custom furniture, integrated lighting and sliding glazing onto the sea are composed as one environment, so the identity holds without a guest having to live inside a gesture.

Coral Palmata shows how resort interior design can grow out of the character of a place without reproducing it. The reef becomes a framework for spatial relationships, movement, material, light and guest experience rather than a decorative theme, and every venue keeps its own identity and operational purpose inside a coherent whole. The project extends the studio’s commercial portfolio beyond branded workplace environments such as Grendene Global Brands Headquarters in Wynwood, while its emphasis on nature and wellbeing connects with the residential work at SK Residence in Surfside.

Learn more about Nar Design Studio, the Miami based interior design firm founded by Nicholas Gennari and Roberto Racy.

Elongated reception counter in pale sculpted stone, its front face folding into a tapered point that lifts clear of the light silver travertine floor. Two monitors and a slim planted vase sit on the counter, a bronze fan coral installation fills the wall at the far left, and a large backlit ellipse of coral texture is recessed into the ceiling above a curved bronze wall. The illuminated wall sign reads Coral Palmata Resort & Spa.
A single continuous line resolves the whole reception function, and lifting the mass off the floor keeps it reading as carved rather than built.
Vertical view of the reception counter in pale sculpted stone, its curved profile tapering to a point at the right, set against a dark bronze wall lit by a concealed cove above. A long backlit ceiling panel carrying a fine coral texture runs overhead. The illuminated wall sign reads Coral Palmata Resort & Spa.
The lit relief overhead follows the line of the counter, giving the arrival wall depth without adding a single decorative element.
Reception counter of pale sculpted stone with a fluid asymmetrical edge, set beneath a dense bronze fan coral installation that spreads across the wall and ceiling above it. A tablet on a stand and a planted bronze vessel sit on the counter, a backlit oval of coral texture is recessed into the ceiling, and a lit stone panel is visible to the right. The counter edge is marked Self Check-In, the backlit wall sign reads Coral Palmata Resort & Spa, and the directory panel lists Meandrina Restaurant, Gorgonian Bar & Lounge, Elevator Hall and Offices.
The counter and the bronze installation above it are conceived as one composition, so the reef reference registers before a guest reaches the desk.
Wide lobby with a sculpted pale stone reception counter on the left beneath a bronze fan coral ceiling installation, a curved white staircase set against a backlit water wall beyond it, and swivel armchairs and curved sofas in cream to the right on a textured rug. Deep burgundy marble is inset into light silver travertine flooring, bronze columns run along floor to ceiling glazing onto palms, and a cluster of mirrored glass spheres in plum hangs in the foreground. The illuminated wall sign reads Coral Palmata Resort & Spa, and the directory beside it lists Meandrina Restaurant, Gorgonian Bar & Lounge, Elevator Hall and Offices.
Reception, stair, water and lounge are held inside a single continuous volume, so arrival reads as one uninterrupted gesture rather than a sequence of rooms.
Lounge seating of swivel armchairs and curved sofas in oatmeal linen, arranged on a large textured rug with a curved edge and served by round tables on bronze cylinder bases. A floor lamp with a dark shade stands between them, bronze columns and a screen of slim vertical fins run along floor to ceiling glazing onto palms, and a backlit panel of coral texture curves across the ceiling above. Burgundy marble edges the rug at the foreground.
Furniture, rug edge and the sweep of the ceiling relief work together to carve a quieter room out of the open lobby without building a wall.
Curved sofa with cushions and two upholstered armchairs in oatmeal linen, set beside a sheer floor length curtain and floor to ceiling glazing, with a low round table on a brushed metal base. A cluster of large mirrored glass spheres in plum hangs overhead, catching reflections of the palms and sky, and dense planting fills the view to the water beyond.
Mirrored glass brings reflection and color down to the scale of the seated guest, where the volume of the lobby alone would leave it overhead.
Sculptural stair in pale plaster spiralling upward beside a tall textured stone wall of falling water that meets a shallow reflecting pool at its base. Backlit ceiling panels carrying coral texture curve overhead, and the lounge beyond holds upholstered chairs, round tables, an illuminated bottle display and floor to ceiling glazing onto palms. Burgundy marble bands the light silver travertine floor.
Placing the stair against falling water makes vertical circulation the most sensory moment on the floor rather than a service route.
Elevator hall with a tall wall of falling water and a shallow pool on the left, three dark metal lift doors ahead, and a curved brushed metal wall to the right. A backlit panel of coral texture divided by slim vertical battens faces the lifts, a cluster of dark mirrored glass spheres hangs from the curved bronze soffit above, and polished burgundy stone meets light silver travertine underfoot.
Water, reflection and a change of stone underfoot carry the atmosphere of the lobby into the lift core instead of stopping at its threshold.
Vertical view of the lift lobby, where a cluster of dark mirrored glass spheres hangs beneath a curved bronze ceiling soffit with linear diffusers set into it. A backlit wall of coral texture divided by slim vertical battens faces three lift doors, and the polished burgundy stone floor carries the full reflection of the wall.
A reflective floor doubles the height of the lit wall, giving a corridor of ordinary dimension the presence of a room.
Curved bar counter clad in pale textured stone with rust boucle stools on slim metal frames, standing on a dark marble floor that reflects the light. A branching coral installation in deep red spreads across the ceiling to the right, clusters of smoked glass sphere pendants hang over tub chairs and round stone tables, an illuminated bottle display lines the far wall, and a backlit panel of coral texture curves overhead. A fluted timber screen and a slab of figured stone close the wall behind the bar.
The branching form overhead does the work of a wall, establishing the bar as its own destination inside an otherwise open floor.
Round travertine tables surrounded by tub chairs in cream leather and curved banquettes with tan leather cushions, each table set with a slim cordless lamp. A glazed wall backed by illuminated shelves of bottles runs along the left with a mirrored return, smoked glass sphere pendants hang above, and floor to ceiling glazing opens onto palms and dense planting. A backlit ceiling disc carrying coral texture sits overhead.
Round tables, low leather and lamp light at table height hold the room at a social scale rather than a ceremonial one.
Spa reception desk carved as a single rounded boulder of pale stone, holding two laptops and a tray of rolled towels and lit from beneath along its base. A planted bed of slender trees set in white pebbles runs the length of a backlit slatted timber wall, curved upholstered seating and a low cylindrical table sit to the left, and an oval ceiling panel with a rippled water relief glows above the timber floor.
A carved stone volume and a lit stand of trees mark the threshold between the public resort and the spa without a door doing the work.
Close view of the spa desk, a rounded mass of rough pale stone lit from beneath along its base, with a shallow dish of rolled towels on the counter and a laptop at its right edge. Slender trees rise from a lit planting trough set against a backlit wall of fine timber battens, and an oval ceiling panel with a rippled water relief hangs above the timber plank floor.
Light run beneath the base lets the stone read as a found object set on the floor rather than a piece of joinery.
Fitness floor with treadmills and a cross trainer set along the glazing, plated strength machines against the left wall, and a functional training rig with weights and medicine balls on a dark rubber platform inset into pale timber plank flooring. Fluted columns and trailing greenery frame floor to ceiling glass overlooking palms and the sea, and a suspended fixture of glowing amoeba shaped panels in a dark frame lights the space.
A change of floor material separates the training zones, so the plan stays open and the view is never interrupted by a partition.
Guest room with an upholstered bed in oatmeal linen against a full width upholstered headboard panel, swing arm reading lights either side, and a bedside cabinet holding a digital clock and books. A long bench with a felt hat sits at the foot of the bed, a lounge chair in rust boucle with a matching footstool faces the window, and a timber console along the right holds a tray, glassware and a kettle. A rippled textured panel covers the upper wall, a cove lit ceiling reveal follows the perimeter, and sliding glazing with sheer curtains opens to palms and the sea.
The rooms carry the same language as the public floors at lower volume, so the identity holds without the guest living inside a gesture.
Detail of the headboard wall upholstered in grey woven fabric, with a low bedside cabinet set on a recessed plinth, its stone top holding a telephone and a slim glass vase of branches. A narrow wall mounted reading light sits above the cabinet, and a rippled textured panel washed by concealed light rises to a curved cove ceiling. A bench stands at the foot of the bed on a pale rug over dark timber flooring.
A relief wall grazed by concealed light replaces a decorative headboard, giving the room a focal point that changes with the hour.

Project Details

Location: The Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Market: Hospitality / Boutique Wellness Resort

Project Type: Hospitality Interior Architecture + Interior Design

Area: 377,000 ft² / 35,000 m²

Completion: Expected 2027

Scope:
Interior Architecture, Interior Design, Interior Design Concept, Guestroom Design, Restaurant and Bar Interiors, Spa and Fitness Design, Custom Furniture, Millwork, Lighting Design, Material Selection, FF&E, Art Integration, Wayfinding, and Design Coordination

Designers: Nicholas Gennari and Roberto Racy

Interior Design Firm: Nar Design Studio

Design Approach: An elusive abstraction of coral reefs expressed through organic forms, sculptural art, fluid movement, layered light, color, material, and connections with nature

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
THE REEF AS A LIVING SYSTEM

A reef is built by separate organisms whose individual colors, textures and structures hold together as one system. Coral Palmata is organized on the same principle. The lobby, restaurants, bars, spa, fitness center, circulation and guest rooms each carry their own atmosphere and operational purpose, and none of them reads as a separate interior. Nature enters through spatial relationships, movement, light, material and water rather than as applied decoration, which lets the resort belong to The Red Sea while meeting the clarity and operational logic an international property requires. Wellbeing is not confined to the spa. It is carried through daylight, landscape views, acoustic atmosphere, intuitive circulation, places for connection and rooms made for rest.

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Planning a boutique hotel, destination resort, wellness retreat, or hospitality project?

Nar Design Studio works with hospitality owners and development teams to create resorts, boutique hotels, restaurants, bars, spas, fitness facilities, public areas, and guest accommodations shaped by a clear design identity and a fully coordinated process.

Based in Miami, the studio serves hospitality projects throughout the United States and internationally.

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