Resort and Hotel Architect in Bali

A resort is a building that has to work every day for guests, staff and the owner at the same time. Antonio Rutilio, an Italian architect and civil engineer based in Ubud, designs resorts, boutique hotels and hospitality developments on Bali and elsewhere in Indonesia, from the first masterplan to the guest-room interiors. His hospitality experience also includes resort work for Viva Wyndham in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

This page covers resorts and hotels. For villas, see the page for a villa architect in Bali; for the studio's work across the archipelago, the page for an architect in Indonesia.

What resort design has to solve

The masterplan decides most of what a guest will feel and most of what the operator will pay. It places the keys, the public spaces and the landscape on the site, and it separates what guests should see from what they should not: service routes, deliveries, laundry, kitchens and staff areas. On a sloping Bali site it also decides how people move up and down, and where the view is kept for the rooms that justify the rate.

Then the architecture carries the climate strategy — shade, cross ventilation, roofs and drainage sized for the rainy season — and the materials are chosen for maintenance in humid and salty air. The structure and services are coordinated early, because in hospitality they are expensive to change later.

Services for resorts and hotels

• Site and feasibility studies before purchase or investment
• Masterplanning for resorts and multi-villa hospitality projects
• Architecture for resorts, boutique hotels and hospitality villas
• Renovation and restyling of existing hospitality properties
• Interior design of rooms, suites, restaurants and public areas
• Structural and MEP coordination with engineers
• Permit documentation with licensed Indonesian professionals
• 3D visualisation, Unreal Engine and VR for design review and investors

Hospitality projects in Indonesia

Each project has its own page; the description says what the studio did, as stated there.

• Kintamani Resort — Kintamani, Bali. A 50-room resort with a spa and a three-storey circular restaurant, designed in Unreal Engine on a digital reconstruction of the surrounding terrain. Architecture, structure, MEP, interiors and permit.
• Setha Bali — Tabanan, Bali. An oceanfront hospitality development with 40 keys, about 7,000 m² built on a 13,000 m² site. Architecture, interior renovation and hospitality restyling.
• Domo Resort — Nusa Penida. A boutique resort pairing contemporary architecture with the island's landscape. Architecture, engineering, interiors, structure and MEP.
• Sumba Dream Resort — Sumba. A boutique resort of eight private villas of 200 m² each. Architecture.
• Lombok Resort — Tanjung Ringgit, Lombok. An eco-resort on the limestone coast. Architectural concept and masterplan: a concept project, not a built one.

Outside Indonesia, the studio has designed for Viva Wyndham: Viva Aqva in Xpu-Ha, Mexico, a resort of about 400 rooms, and the renovation of Viva Playa Dorada in the Dominican Republic. More on the page for an Italian architect worldwide.

Boutique, eco and large resorts

A boutique resort of a few villas and a resort of hundreds of rooms share the same questions at very different scales: how the site is divided, how guests arrive, where service happens and how the place is maintained. Low-impact projects, such as the Lombok eco-resort concept, add the question of how much of the site is left as it is — the masterplan starts from the existing contours and landscape rather than from a grid.

How a hospitality project runs

1. Brief and feasibility. The site, the programme, the number of keys, the operator's requirements and what the local rules allow.
2. Masterplan and concept. Layout, guest and service circulation, and a first 3D model.
3. Design development. Architecture, interiors, structure and services, reviewed in 3D with the owner and, where there is one, the operator.
4. Permits and documentation. Prepared and submitted with licensed Indonesian professionals.
5. Tender and construction. Contractor selection and site coordination until handover.

First step

For a preliminary, non-binding cost range use the project estimator, which includes resort and hotel categories. To discuss a site or a brief, contact the studio.