Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Overview

Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, is a secluded island resort located within the ecologically sensitive waters of the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. Conceived as a low-impact luxury destination, the development comprises a curated collection of overwater and beachfront villas arranged across a pristine archipelago setting. The project forms part of the wider Red Sea Global vision to establish a new benchmark for regenerative tourism in the region. The resort brings together architecture, landscape, and hospitality into a cohesive spatial experience that prioritizes privacy, environmental integration, and a strong sense of place. Its planning approach minimizes visual and physical disruption to the natural context, allowing the built form to sit lightly within the landscape while maintaining uninterrupted connections to sea, sky, and shoreline.

Dewan Architects + Engineers acted as executive architect, playing a central role in translating the design vision into a coordinated and deliverable project. This included leading detailed design development, managing multidisciplinary coordination, and supporting the realization of complex prefabricated villa systems across a distributed site. The result is a project that aligns architectural intent with technical precision, enabling a high-end guest experience within a challenging and environmentally responsive context.

Project Vision

The ambition behind Nujuma was to create a hospitality destination that is both exclusive and contextually grounded—offering a high-end guest experience while preserving the ecological and visual integrity of the Red Sea environment. Rather than positioning the resort as an isolated luxury enclave, the project sought to embed architecture within its setting—balancing privacy with openness, and crafted interiors with natural surroundings.

Design Response

The architectural language, developed by Foster + Partners and realized through detailed coordination and delivery by Dewan, draws on shell-like geometries and organic forms that respond to the coastal landscape.

Dewan’s role focused on translating this design intent into buildable systems. This included:

• Developing detailed construction packages
• Designing back-of-house, service, and operational facilities
• Coordinating specialist consultants and authority approvals
• Advising on prefabrication strategies during early design stages

Experience of Place

The resort is organized as a series of pavilions and villas connected through landscaped pathways, with indigenous planting framing movement across the site. Cultural references such as regional patterns, traditional ceramics, and woven textiles—are integrated into the interiors, reinforcing a sense of place without relying on literal expression.

Guest experience is defined by:

• Gradual transitions between land and water
• Controlled views toward the sea
• Private outdoor spaces including terraces and pools
• Interior environments shaped by natural materials and soft tonal palettes inspired by sand and water

Performance & Impact

Beyond its architectural identity, Nujuma contributes to the broader development of the Red Sea as a global tourism destination. The project demonstrates how high-end hospitality can be delivered within environmentally sensitive contexts through careful planning, prefabrication, and coordination.

Dewan’s involvement ensured:

• Buildability of complex geometries
• Alignment between concept design and execution
• Integration of operational and service requirements within a dispersed resort layout

The result is a project that balances design ambition with technical delivery, supporting both guest experience and long-term operational performance.

“Our role was to ensure that a highly expressive architectural vision could be realized with precision—maintaining design integrity while resolving the complexities of prefabrication, coordination, and site conditions.”

Samer Touqan

Managing Principal

Project Facts

The following information outlines the key details of the project.

• Location: Red Sea, Saudi Arabia
• Sector: Hospitality
• Client: Red Sea Global
• Design Architect: Foster + Partners
• Executive Architect: Dewan Architects + Engineers
• Size: 30,000 m²
• Accommodation: 63 villas (overwater and beachfront)
• Status: Completed
• Completion Year: 2024