Lavishly designed interiors embracing Sri Lankan hospitality as well as the highest international codes for luxury interiors.
Boutique hotel resort. 3,500 m² Hotel villas, restaurant, communal spaces / ANI VILLAS
Studio Name: AW2 -Architecture Workshop
Design Team: AW² Masterplan, architecture & interiors
Area: 3 500 sqm
Year: 2017
Location: Dikwella, South Coast of Sri Lanka
Consultants: Architecte of record: TEAM ARCHITRAVE, Landscape: Laki Senanayake, Structural & civil engineering: DWA, MEP engineering: CNK MEP Consultants, Pools: Aquatic consultants Inc
Photography Credits: Mikael Bénard
AW² were commissioned to design both the architecture and interior design down to the bespoke furniture for Ani Private Resort. The site and the topography were, from the start, a major influence. The project is organised as a series of clusters, made up of separate pavilions organised to enhance the inside/outside feel. The clusters are then linked together with a series of ramps that create a geometry of walls within the landscape, cutting through the greenery, creating platforms, holding pathways.
The buildings are designed as stand-alone timber frame structures. Each pavilion has a large overhanging roof – in iron wood shingles – that protects and shades the walls and windows. The facades are designed in a strict rhythm of vertical panels, alternating stone and windows for the rooms. The main structures, which house the living areas are built as double height timber frame structures, clad in louvered shutters which allow for natural ventilation – avoiding air conditioning in these areas – and creating a rich play on light at night.
For the interiors, AW² extended the same concept as for the architecture: create a sense of place, use the local and reinvent our own furniture. Most of the furniture was designed for the project, giving it a unique feel. The ‘Lanka chair’ was developed specifically for the project and has become an iconic design.
AW² searched locally for whatever was not bespoke – furnishings, vintage pieces, and antiques – to give the place a unique dimension. The materials we used for the interiors are a direct extension of the architectural materials, with simple, local materials and natural colours – brown, grey and beige – and strong textures – rough cut stone, flamed granite, soft terrazzo. This again reinforces the coherence the studio was trying to attain in their design.
