This Island Resort in the Red Sea is Inspired by Coral Reef

A new luxury eco-resort project has recently been unveiled by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) in Saudi Arabia. Part of a suite of ‘giga projects’ that ostensibly aim to transition the Kingdom into economic and social modernity, TRSDC has been tasked with developing the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia into a thriving, eco-friendly, luxury tourism hub.

At the centre of this project is the ‘Coral Bloom’ concept: a network of sustainable luxury resorts on the dolphin-shaped island of Shurayrah that the company claims will protect and regenerate the region’s spectacular coral reefs while emulating the myriad colours and shapes of the marine environment. Read on for a closer look at this ambitious developmental project on the Red Sea.

What is the Coral Bloom Project?

‘Coral Bloom’ is the eco-architectural centrepiece of the sustainable resort project on Shurayrah, and a central design concept that will inform its development. Led by British architecture and engineering firm Foster + Partners, Coral Bloom is “inspired by the island’s natural state, with the hotels designed to give the impression that they have washed up on the beaches”, according to the firm’s Head of Studio, Gerard Evenden. Using lightweight, low impact building materials, the project aims to protect the biodiversity surrounding Shurayrah, from its mangrove shores and sweeping dunes, to its crystalline beaches and dazzling coral reefs.

According to Foster + Partners, most of the habitats set to comprise the resorts on the island will be prefabricated on the mainland, to minimise the impact the development has on Shurayrah’s delicate ecosystem. The entire network of resorts is also slated to be powered by renewable energy sources, underpinned by a battery system that, upon completion, would be the largest such system in the world.

From the discerning luxury traveller’s perspective, the Coral Bloom project will preserve the authentic experience of the island's natural environment by ensuring its guests are as immersed as they can be without causing harm to its ecosystems. Habitats throughout the island will be designed to blend seamlessly with the environment by nestling in the undulations of its dunes and opening onto its sandy beaches and azure, tropical waters.

The resort project claims that the development of the island will be limited to ensure open skies, free from any traditional, towering resort complexes as well as a limit the number of tourists on the island at any given time. Guests will be able to explore the spectacular coral reefs that surround the island and enjoy a variety of thrilling water sports and recreational activities, all carefully monitored by the resort authority to ensure minimal environmental impact.

All Promise and Good Press?

There is no denying that the ambition of the Coral Bloom concept and TRSDC’s mission soars to dizzying heights. The company’s representatives have emphasised to international press outlets that they are mustering the scientific and technological expertise to not only achieve completely sustainable luxury tourism with this project but that its development will have a 30% positive conservation benefit on the region’s natural environment over the next two decades.

Realising this bold ambition requires infrastructural innovations and resource solutions to overcome the numerous challenges the project faces. The region is almost completely undeveloped, and its harsh, arid environment sees extreme temperatures and very little annual rainfall. While the company points to some proposed solutions from its research partners at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, few of these are ready for implementation alongside the project’s construction.

One significant challenge among many is how the resort network plans to deal with the massive quantities of extremely salty brine water that will come from its essential production of freshwater through desalination, without damaging the marine ecosystems. Today, more than half of Saudi Arabia’s drinking water comes from desalination and the resulting brine water is normally pumped back into the ocean, often to devastating consequence. Whether any sustainable solutions to this and other challenges will be developed in time for the Coral Bloom project remains to be seen.

The project is set to begin welcoming tourists to the first of its hotels as early as 2022, alongside the grand opening of a nearby international airport to serve the entire tourism region. Over the following year, a further twelve hotels are slated to open and by 2030, a total of fifty resorts are planned to be in operation across twenty-two Red Sea islands and six inland locations.

Head over to The Red Sea Development Company’s website for more details on Coral Bloom and its ambitious Red Sea project.

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