Luxury hotel group Four Seasons has opened a Foster and Partners-designed property in the Moroccan city of Casablanca.
Located near the beach, on the Boulevard de la Corniche, the 186-room hotel is just ten minutes from the business district.
The property features two restaurants, a pool, a spa with ten treatment rooms and extensive meeting space. With interiors are by London’s GA Design, they incorporate traditional materials and motifs with clean, modern furnishings and original artwork.
Commissioned by consultant Marta Garcia-Fajardo, contemporary artwork throughout includes intricate vases from Moroccan ceramicist Myriam Mourabit and ceramic murals from Spain’s Terra Lume studio. Prints and paintings can also be seen throughout the hotel’s public spaces and guestrooms.
“The initial inspiration was to create a unique hotel with a real sense of place – dramatic contrasts between light and dark, pattern and texture, and local artisan details and engineered forms that give rise to contemporary interiors united by the distinctive architecture,” says David Clixby, lead designer and senior associate at GA Design.
Rooms and suites make use of natural daylight “as much as possible”, and come with the latest technology (free wifi, 42-inch flatscreen TVs) and Four Seasons beds in all-white luxury sheets. Starting from 47 sqm, they also provide minibars, marble bathrooms and private balconies.
An emphasis on design is also evident in the event spaces – for example, carved timber doors open on to Moroccan lanterns and crystal chandeliers in the palatial Atlantic ballroom, which can seat 550 delegates theatre-style. There are seven other meeting rooms on the fourth and fifth levels.
Mediterranean brasserie Bleu features an open cooking station where chefs prepare fresh seafood over a charcoal grill. The design, by EDG, was inspired by the sea, which can be seen from the restaurant’s glass-walled terrace.
Jennifer Johanson, CEO and president of EDG, says: “As a vibrant economic hub and port city, Casablanca is steeped in history yet very much future oriented. Our design for Bleu evokes this essence in a distinct and modern way while capturing the imagination of travellers, locals and foodies.”
Meanwhile, Latitude 33 offers an outdoor lounge featuring small plates from an international menu. Mint, the tea lounge, serves traditional Moroccan dishes in a high-ceilinged room decorated in white stucco embroideries that adorn the walls.
Four Seasons will also open an 85-room resort in Napa Valley with 20 private residence villas and a fully operational vineyard in 2018.
Katie Krater
