Wise words, my friend.I mean most people here don’t like anything that is done these days
I take all opinions with a grain of salt, if not the constant negativity would have me in therapy for the next 35 years.
I really hope if they do plan on decorating the columns that they encase them with something first. Painted tribal art on smooth columns would look AWFUL.
The concept art gives no indication of any relief effect. The reason I keep likening it to tattoo art is that I really think that's what it's intended to resemble, including in its flatness.
This is pretty close to my assessment. I really dislike the globe lights, and I wish some attempt had been made to disguise the sprinklers, but overall, I don't think the end product is the failure that some are making it out to be.
The color choices don't bother me...it's the industrial-like materials and finishes that really throw it off for me. "Polynesian" to me means the exact opposite of "ultra smooth and shiny"...it means more natural materials, rich accent colors, carvings, etc. On the columns, for example, I wouldn't mind "tattoo-style", flat, monotone designs if they weren't on such a shiny, smooth surface (shiny being the worst offender). The underside of the roof bothers me the most, though...it's just so blatantly metal and industrial-looking.
The concept art already announced (to me at least) that they were going for a more modern, streamlined interpretation of the theme. That's why I'm somewhat surprised that people are so taken aback by what we've ended up with. I have less of an issue with the smoothness per se than with the choice of materials: I agree that the metal on the underside of the roof is too industrial in feel. Had they used smooth wood, I think the result would have been superior, even if still overly modern for some people's tastes.
Smooth wood would have been gorgeous! I can handle a modern slant on Polynesian design...the shininess and obvious metal though...
I must say that this doesn't read as modern or streamlined to me. That I could deal with, even if it seems an odd choice for a hotel whose appeal draws so much on retro Polynesian pop that they're also leaning into with the new colour scheme for the monorail station.
A number of posters here have said they were hoping for or expected more natural-looking materials and textures. My point was only that the concept art suggested the very opposite approach: the red and yellow geometric panels in the gables and along the station were never going to be anything other than some sort of laser-cut industrial material. True, we were promised (and, after a fashion, got) a thatched roof, but the rest of what the concept art indicated (even the busily decorated columns) did not read as especially natural to me.
The colored panels could EASILY have been painted/treated wood panels which would've given a slight nod to authenticity if not made the effect warmer - not the sterile plastic they've gone with.
Did you expect those panels to be made of natural materials based on the concept art? I'm asking you to separate your own desires and hopes from what the concept art itself suggested would happen.
To be honest, the concept art is not great and I at least assumed it was just a poor rendering of an entrance that would be akin to those they have at their other resorts. The thatched roof, for example, looks like a formica kitchen counter top in that rendering and I would have been surprised if that was what they went with. I reiterate, I would have been surprised... now, not so much!
I actually don’t have an issue with the laser-cut panels, but I do think it’s fair to have imagined that they’d be fabricated differently. They’re clearly meant to mimic the painted designs in the gables of the longhouses, so anticipating continuity of form is not unreasonable.
Are they fabricated differently, though? In both cases, it looks like something akin to painted laser-cut MDF to me.
It isn't great, you're right, but though I knew it wasn't to be taken literally (particularly with regard to the thatched roof), I still came away with (it turns out) a fairly accurate of what they were planning. Perhaps that's why the end product isn't so offensive to me; it's about what I was expecting anyway.
The concept art was OK. A bit too modern for my liking, but I got used to it. The finished structure more or less lives up to what it promised, except for the underside of the roof, which, I agree, is the most disappointing element of the whole thing.
Not totally sure as I haven’t gotten an in-person look at the new panels, but that part also doesn’t bother me personally. I actually think the panels and inlays are the most successful aspects of the front elevation. I won’t be able to judge consistency myself for another year or so; just saying that if someone who did see it perceived a major difference, I can understand where the expectation otherwise would have come from.
That's fair enough.
