Roosted atop a bluff on the island of Anguilla in the British West Indies, Malliouhana has played host to a plethora of tourists seeking an idyllic getaway since it first opened as Malliouhana Resort & Spa adjacent to Meads Bay and Turtle Cove beaches in 1984.
After decades of withstanding the Caribbean elements and a three-year closure preceding its 18-month renovation, the 44-room resort was in need of a top-to-bottom revamp when Mark Harmon, founder and managing partner of Auberge Resorts, approached San Francisco-based SB Architects to spearhead its architectural enhancements and Todd-Avery Lenahan, founder of Las Vegas-based TAL Studio, in 2012 to design the resort in reference to the island’s midcentury heyday and rebrand it within the Auberge Resorts Collection.
“I traveled to Malliouhana within the week and sat on the property’s terrace and sketched a musing of what the entry sequence could become,” Lenahan says. “Today, the arrival is exactly what I drew 2 1/2 years ago.”
In terms of preservation, Lenahan retained a recurring motif of Moorish arches due to structural ramifications, and chose to embrace them as instruments of the new aesthetic. “The owner wanted to honor the legacy of the property however possible,” he says. “I did my research, but there was nothing vintage about Anguilla circa 1985.” Instead, Lenahan references the island’s colonial past using Chinoiserie and British Colonial pieces throughout.
The property’s powerful sea views inspired Lenahan to compress the perceived distance from the front entry to the horizon line, dressing the open-air structure as a frame for the vistas. “The existing building’s architecture had layers of visual barriers obscuring its most powerful sightlines. Our first exercise was to figuratively shoot a cannon from the point of arrival all the way to the beach cliffs, demolishing whatever was in the way. Now when you arrive, you’re immediately presented with the spectacular tangent of aquamarine waters meeting an azure sky—a simple gesture that eluded the original design.”
To double the impact of the improved views, Lenahan proposed a glass mirror mosaic tile to replace the lobby’s original pillowed terracotta tilework and reflect the hotel’s surroundings.
Because the open-air layout exposes the resort’s interiors to the Caribbean heat, humidity, and salty air, Lenahan opted to use paint as the sole wall and ceiling finish. The color palette is a range of tinted pastel hues in complementary pairings to highlight the architecture. Celadon, yellow, and coral figure prominently throughout. Original Anguillan and Haitian artwork was commissioned for the guest accommodations, which range from 720-square-foot double rooms to 2,500-square-foot two-bedroom suites. In reference to Anguilla’s national flag, a design of three interlocking porpoises was etched into the rooms’ white floors. Black and white photography of island imagery pops starkly against the pastel palette.
The indoor-outdoor Sunset Bar features large earth tone sectional groupings accented by geometric and plant-inspired throw pillows; soft lighting from cream candles arranged in suspended birdcages hung at alternating heights; and expansive windows, open to allow for sea views and natural light.
Also completely reconstructed, the cliffside Restaurant at Malliouhana features nautical elements, such as black and copper suspended pendant lights and white, thick-spun rope draped along an overhang reaching over intimate table arrangements on the terrace. “Though former Malliouhana guests loved the space, we dozed it to build an entirely new construct with amphitheater-like seating that steps down the site and is perhaps the most spectacular dining setting in the Caribbean. It was a hard-fought battle, but one that validates what we do as hospitality designers turning a renovation into a revelation.”
