Journey Arabia through Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel

Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel is not your typical Arabian themed hotel, in fact the interior designers behind the property made a lot of effort to create a concept which merges the best of East and West decor without the Arabian royal opulence. The main atrium is heavily influenced by Moroccan design while the rest of the hotel is inspired by the travels of the 14th century explorer Ibn Battuta. One of the striking aspects of this five-star hotel is the relationship between the architectural elements and the interior design.

Despite the numerous changes in the exterior and interior design process, the owners were fixated on the idea of having a grand atrium. "This area which is now called the Al Bahou, was one of the main architectural influences of the building and the owners wanted this to be a focal part of the Moroccan design," says Allam Al Shalabi, director of engineering, Movenpick Hotels and Resorts.

The 88 bespoke lanterns, all of which were handmade and manufactured in Dubai by Brass Lights are one of the main highlights of this impressive 90 metre by 30 metre majlis.

Considering the scale and attention to detail of each lantern it's quite evident that the task wasn't easy. The goal was to create a welcoming hallway with a dramatic ambience and the result is exactly that. From design, production and installation, the lighting took 60 weeks to complete, of which 12 weeks alone were dedicated for the fixture process. As for the other lighting fixtures, flooring and interior fittings across the hotel, they were exclusively designed for the hotel by Turkish company AHK. Locally, the interior design team worked closely with the Cornellian Gallery and selected contemporary paintings, and bespoke objet d'art accessories for the entire hotel.

A team of 50 designers have worked on the project and it's taken three years for completion. Duncan Miller were appointed as the master interior designers and Asteco Development Management were closely involved in the overall conceptual design and final finishing.

"Everything was customised for the hotel," explains Carrie Das Interior design manager, Asteco Development Management. "With the Ibn Battuta suites in particular, we took the reference images from Duncan Miller and we built complete sets of customised furniture from that."

The hotel has 396 rooms spread across ten floors ranging from superior, deluxe and executive. A must-see is the 29 Battuta suites and two Moroccan inspired royal suites designed by Kocache and Duncan Miller.

Each floor and suite has its own theme and comes with unique fixtures and fittings with contemporary references that reflect the culture and traditions of the countries Ibn Battuta travelled to.

China is adorned with subtle oriental decor seen in the signage, flooring, ceiling, lighting and wood panelling. And the same elements apply to the other floors — India, Persia, Egypt, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Tanzania, Morocco and Andalucia.

Considering the size of the property, each space is utilised cleverly. Whether it's the children's play area, a deluxe room or the outdoor terrace area, there's a purpose. Al Shalabi explains they have plans to add more features to the hotel such as a boat, a musical instrument, accessories and artwork.

"There is still room to reflect the experiences from Ibn Battuta's story," he says. Carrie points out that they have tried to be environmentally-friendly wherever possible but admits the region still has a long way to go before they have access to sustainable materials.

"All the products which were sourced from Turkey came by road. And we've tried to use LED lighting in most areas of the hotel," she says. The hotel is also very keen on saving energy and they've teamed up with a German firm for the latest air-conditioning technology. "The air-conditioning has sensors so if you are not in a particular area of your hotel room, it will automatically adjust the temperature and divert the air to space where you are," concludes Al Shalabi.