In the forest: This hotel (first shown in AR September 1994) has demonstrated the sustainability of design strategies based on adaptation of tradition, passive climate control and tenderness for nature.

Tourist hotels often destroy what they are built to celebrate. Not so the Datai at Pulau Langkawi, a popular tourist island on northern Malaysia, still largely covered by rainforest. Kerry Hill, the architect, was concerned to save as much of the jungle as possible in building the hotel, which offers 84 rooms and 40 villas to rich foreign tourists. The complex is located in 750 hectares of rainforest on a ridge, offering a view of beach and sea. Hill was determined that as little of the forest should be destroyed as possible, and that the usual impact of clearing forest should be minimized. Usually, when trees are cleared, the place festers, because undergrowth on the perimeter of the site is suddenly exposed to ultraviolet light, dies and the whole scar gets continuously bigger. Hill ensured that pioneering species (fast-growing tall trees) were planted on the edges of the clearing, so that they could protect the undergrowth until being replaced by much slower-growing tall native species. Massing is broken d own to minimize the impact of the building on the site, and components are linked by magical naturally ventilated and lit walkways.

Trunks of trees from the site, manoeuvred by elephants, were used in construction of the hotel, often with minimal dressing, so the forest seems to flow into the complex. The impression is made more intense because some of the principal rooms have no walls, and are protected from the elements by shingle-covered timber-framed roofs. Many materials were sourced locally, and labour, both skilled and unskilled, came largely from the island. The quality of work is unusually high.

Air conditioning is used in the guest rooms and restaurants, but the technical assessor, Rahul Mehrotra, suggests that they would work perfectly well naturally because of they are designed for cross-ventilation. Mehrotra comments that the wide roof overhangs have protected delicate finishes like plastered brick and paint. Mehrotra's only major criticism is of the outdoor stair that links the hotel on the ridge and the lower villa area, which he says is grandiose and gestural.

The complex was shown in detail in AR September 1994. Comparison of these photographs with the ones shown then shows how successful the designers' strategies of minimizing impact, and fostering the natural environment have been.