Four Seasons Hotel: 2015 Winner

The SKYDB Awards recognize high-rise buildings that unite architectural quality with practical performance, and the Four Seasons Hotel at Bahrain Bay was selected as the 2015 SKYDB Awards Winner.

The 201-meter hotel rises from its own island in Bahrain Bay and contains 273 guest rooms across a 48-story structure. Two tall concrete piers frame a stack of glazed floors, giving the building the appearance of an inhabited bridge or gateway. The broad spaces between the piers hold the hotel rooms and public areas while preserving open views over the water.

A spa is placed near the summit, and a projecting Skypod creates a separate destination above the main room floors. The monumental side walls give the tower weight at the scale of the bay, while the glass sections remain visibly occupied. The award recognizes a hotel whose structure provides both its internal organization and its unmistakable outline on the Manama waterfront.

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)