The Al Khayran Oberoi is located just over 16km south of Muscat in an area under the preservation of the Omani ministry of tourism. This resort is situated in the valley of a gorge, accessible by both land and sea.
 
Careful attention was paid to the unique and complex morphology of this site. Rather than building onto it, the project is, in its essence, one of extraction and insertion into the natural topography.
 
The space for guest units is carved along the peripheries of the gorge. Each unit is then cladded with gravillon of the extracted stone held within a wire mesh.
 
While it is only an 80 key resort, the Oberoi staff outnumber the guest capacity 3:1. To accomodate the large back of house, a new reference level was established, 7m above the level of the shore, artificially tucking this large volume into the topography of the site and leaving the terrain uninterrupted by visual mass.

 Arriving by car, guests are received by the natural landscape but without any traditional reference to the resort’s entrance. They are greeted only by two tents where, in playful reversal of expectations, high tech “flying carpets“ transport them down to sea level.