Babylon Hotel

Inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, FORREC designed the ornate Forest City Hotel in Vietnam as an oasis in the jungle. Meeting the challenge of creating a dramatic profile while maintaining cost-efficiency. The overall result is elegant in its simplicity. Boldly stepped terraces wrap the entire hotel, creating extensive opportunities for mature trees, bougainvillea, and trailing vines to enhance the hanging gardens feel. The landscape also enhances the amenity terraces, outdoor dining spaces and the suites’ private balconies. Always aiming for more sustainable design, FORREC’s plan for the lush façade adds biodiversity and filters sunlight to reduce solar gain, while the additional soil mass adds to the insulation value of the structure.

Inside the hotel, there are private villas and pools, a secret spa entrance which can only be accessed by a ferry across the resort’s lagoon. A spectacular waterfall extends the full height of the hotel and is the backdrop for a nightly sound, light and media show. Guests are treated to many moments of surprise and wonder, and the luxury of the hotel ensures they want to return over and over. The hotel is estimated to be open to guests in 2023.