The Bulgari hotels have an approach to the concept of "luxury" which is based on environmental quality, attention to hospitality and unsurpassed experience.
Creating a unique experience in Bali - a place that, while representing the quintessence of Eastern tropical exoticism, is a well-known destination for diverse types of tourism - is an ambitious objective.
The sharply sloping land has made it necessary to produce a complex project of land modelling by terracing; the landscape, as perceived by passers-by, consists of bukit walls. Bukit, a coralline, originally white, stone, excavated directly out of the promontory, is very sensitive to moisture and quickly weathers.
It perfectly fits into the dark grey stone landscape, built in hewn stone - facing the sea - and in lava stone, facing the mountain.
For those who like to walk, this landscape is similar to that of a walled and secret medieval village; a view that is unpredictably obscured by the tropical vegetation growing in private gardens. Above this walled landscape, Bali's resort skyline is made up of the roofs in alang alang, a kind of straw obtained from the leaves of coconut trees.
The spatial organization of the resort distinctly separates the two hearts of this place: the private and quiet character of residential areas, where even views are screened in order to provide hosts with maximum privacy, and the glamorous, energetic and festive atmosphere of public spaces which, to the Eastern side of the resort, are organised around an artificial lake, with open-air bars, sofas on the edge of the cliff and a restaurant standing on top of the promontory offering a breathtaking view on the most beautiful beach of the island.
The beach, which is situated at the bottom of the cliff, can only be reached from the resort, by means of a cabin mounted on a rail, and cannot be reached from the sea since it is protected by the coral reef.
Everything has been built in full compliance with the local construction techniques. The building site has been set up around a saw-mill which has been expressly installed to process and cut stones by hand.
Contemporary design and international style are evident in the way the covered areas are encased.
The bedroom and bathroom areas in rooms, the restaurant and some of the Spa centre pavilions are contained in a system of mahogany and glass doors and windows which are very transparent, absolutely Western in style, but built locally using traditional crafts techniques and materials.
The construction is characterised by the use of a single material and colour: structures, windows, doors, floors and details are in bangkiray, a tawny Javanese type of mahogany, darkened so as to look almost black in furniture.
Rooms are villas. The most frequent type, with one bedroom, is organised so that more or less the same space is devoted to the sleeping area and the bathroom: it is very large, with black terrazzo flooring, a central bathtub and two showers, one of which is in the garden; the bathroom includes space for a table and an armchair: a sort of sitting-room surrounded by glass and a walled garden. An entirely glass-panelled perimeter closes behind curtains that give the night area a completely textile quality.
Outside, the sitting-room in the open air, situated between a private garden and a small swimming-pool, opens to the south onto the sea and the cliff.
The largest villas, with two bedrooms, have large swimming-pools in the garden and separate kitchens and studios.
To the west, slightly raised, the Bulgari Villa is a 600 sq. m. house with four bedrooms, two sitting-rooms and a kitchen. Its garden includes a 20 metre long swimming-pool, surrounded by a solarium and small pavilions for eating and resting in the open air.
Apart from the "Sangkar", a large restaurant standing on the cliff, with a roof almost 10 metres high, filled with bamboo cages which have been turned into ceiling lamps, there is "Il ristorante", set up under two roofs situated on the shore of an artificial lake, an elegant and refined restaurant for the evening, with an excellent Italian menu.
The Spa centre, situated in the heart of the area, has been built on the edge of the cliff and at the foot of a very green valley. It includes a yoga pavilion, a number of small pavilions looking onto the sea and a sort of wooden bridge floating on a pool where you can relax watching the sea.
The landscape has been designed by the well-known landscape designer Made Wijaya, using an approach based on the traditions and principles of Balinese gardens and courtyards.
Terracing has been obtained following the natural evolution of the soil, on which many vegetal species which are typical of the climate of the peninsula have been planted. The trees originally present in this site have been preserved and replanted in the new landscape. Trees with white frangipani flowers - ever present in Balinese culture - have been planted everywhere, wafting their typical fragrance around.
Flamboyant trees offer their large, restoring shadow and become bright red in December.
The landscape is enriched by the presence of huge vases carved out of large stones and ancient monolithic totems.