On Shura Island, at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s visionary Red Sea development, Kristina Zanic Consultants has conceived interiors for InterContinental The Red Sea Resort that feel less designed than discovered. This is hospitality as a slow unfolding—spaces that ask guests not to arrive, but to wander.

Developed by Red Sea Global, operated by IHG Hotels & Resorts, and architecturally shaped with Foster + Partners, the resort belongs to a new generation of luxury destinations where regeneration is not a footnote but a foundation. Within this framework, Kristina Zanic’s interiors act as a mediating layer between landscape and lived experience.

The design unfolds as a journey—mirroring the resort’s maze-like plan—where circulation becomes narrative. Pathways meander, spaces contract and expand, light shifts from open brilliance to intimate shadow. Organic textures, spiralling motifs and radiating finishes echo marine currents and desert winds, while a palette of soft neutrals punctuated by coastal tones roots the interiors firmly in place. Nothing is declarative; everything is responsive.

The arrival sequence sets the tone. A light-filled lobby dissolves into cocooned moments, animated by leaf-shaped rattan luminaires and a sculptural timber wall that reads like a tactile landscape. Guest rooms continue this fluid language: curved façades extend inward, ceilings are layered rather than flat, and furniture follows soft geometries. Beds are oriented toward the sea, framed by rope screens that filter views rather than block them—privacy without disconnection.

Dining spaces become cultural waypoints. DAREIN draws on Moroccan and Levantine hospitality through Zellige tiles and communal layouts; ARDO channels South American warmth with saturated hues and a bold tapestry anchoring the bar; THE 305 injects playful Havana–Miami energy through colour, rhythm, and ritual. Each venue feels distinct, yet unmistakably part of the same ecosystem.

At Spa InterContinental, architecture recedes in favour of atmosphere. Skylit volumes, arched screens, hammams and private terraces foster a sense of recalibration—body and landscape momentarily aligned. Even Planet Trekkers, the children’s club, adopts a marine-inspired language that treats play as exploration rather than spectacle.

Aligned with LEED Platinum principles, the resort demonstrates how environmental responsibility can be spatially expressive. Here, sustainability is not an aesthetic constraint but a design intelligence—one that allows luxury to feel intuitive, grounded, and quietly radical.