Meridien Hotel

The Meridien Hotel in Bora-Bora is a tourism complex built on the island of Bora-Bora located 220 kilometres northwest of the island of Tahiti. The hotel, which is managed by the Meridien group, is a high-end, 4-star establishment. It consists of 100 bungalows, including 85 perched over a large lagoon at 2.5 metres above the water, with the remaining 15 sitting on land surrounding a small lagoon. The bungalows are clustered into two 2 groups. A pontoon-and-footbridge network links the bungalows to the mainland.

BACKGROUND

The island of Bora-Bora, known as the “Pearl of the Pacific,” attracts no fewer than 20,000 tourists every year, making it one of the most visited islands in French Polynesia.
To meet this demand, Bora-Bora needed to acquire new infrastructure, including high-end hotels offering the very best conditions to an exacting customer base. This was the premise that guided this hotel-construction project for the Meridien group at this destination.
Each bungalow consists of a 40-m room with an adjoining 15-m2 deck that leads via stairs to the lagoon. The decks are connected by a 5-metre footbridge to a main pontoon.

TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

The bungalows are in wood covered with pandanus leaves. Pandanus is a bush with long flat leaves 5 to 8 centimetres wide. These leaves are dried and folded in two after being immersed in seawater for 24 to 48 hours. They are then assembled in clusters ranging in size from 0.8 to 1.2 metres. These clusters are then nailed to the structure in the manner of tiles with a gap of 6 to 7 centimetres. The result is a thatched roof with an estimated life of 5 to 7 years (excluding cyclones).
The pontoons consist of wood planking supported by a metal structure at intervals of 4.8 metres. This structure consists of a metal pile 300 millimetres in diameter supported by T beams. The central section is the only part of the buildings built in concrete and covers 3,000 m² of floor space, excluding the restaurants.
Just like the bungalows and the pontoons, the restaurants are perched over the water on a pile-and joist structure over which flooring was laid. As is the case for the bungalows, the central section is covered by pandanus thatch affixed to a wood structure.
The hotel was built on a coral outcrop that separates the Bora-Bora lagoon from the Pacific Ocean. This coral ridge is located 2.5 kilometres from the main island and is accessible by boat only. The ridge rises to 0.5 metre above water level but is submerged when the tide is high. Consequently, the land on which the hotel was built was backfilled and raised by 1.5 metres using dredging and excavation material from earthworks operations carried out to create the inner lagoon. An embankment – rising to 3.5 metres above the water level – was built on the ocean front to protect the complex from the water. A water-renewal control system was developed for the small inner lagoon. Tide levels in the inner lagoon were used to set the height of the bungalow floors at 2.5 metres. The length of the piles supporting the bungalows and the pontoons vary in accordance with the depth of the water in which they stand; they range from 8 to 12 metres.

Given the challenges associated with site supply, bungalow structures and cabinets were prefabricated in Tahiti and delivered on site ready for assembly, thereby minimizing on-site production.

IMPACT

Exotic woods from the islands of the Pacific, including Fiji, Papua, and New Guinea, were used for cabinetmaking, planking, flooring, decks, and decorative finishes. The pandanus used for thatch roofing was produced locally and is indigenous to the island of Bora-Bora.
The Meridien Hotel in Bora-Bora, which combines unique Polynesian charm and ambience as well as traditional local architecture, is the first hotel in the region that features bungalows perched so high above the water.
This new hotel supports tourism-development efforts and aspirations in French Polynesia. It offers, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a showcase for French-styled European comfort and local cultures.

Project participants

Client
Duminvest

Project management
Coteba Management – Cabinet Tricard Architecte

Key figures

Implementation dates
October 1996 to July 1998    

Bungalows
4,500 m2

Pontoon-and-footbridge network
2,500 m2

Dredging and excavation
45,000 m3

Find out more

www.lemeridien-borabora.com