World-renowned architect designs new Tinian resort

World-renowned architect Shin Takamatsu took his inspiration for the design of the proposed Matua Bay Resort on Tinian from the moon and the stars yet the plans for the project, unveiled in a Friday press conference, also come with some very earthly features intended to safeguard the environment and local history.

Best known for futuristic structures in Japan’s bustling urban centers reminiscent of the film Blade Runner, Takamatsu is widely acclaimed as the high-tech master of modern architecture responsible for the design of projects like Kirin Plaza in Osaka, Japan and the National Theatre of Japan on Okinawa.

Takamatsu’s new design for the resort is a collage of crescent shapes, elliptical lines, cascading water features and shimmering glass.

“The whole concept is centered on circles and the moon,” said William Hofschneider, a consulting engineer with project. “You can see how that is in the elements of the design.”

Transforming a site that locals currently use as a dumping ground, the multi-million dollar resort project will include a 405-room hotel, a casino and an 18-hole golf course. On Friday, the developers behind the plan, the Marianas Resort Development Co., announced the submission of the environmental impact assessment for it.

“The company is excited about this,” said attorney and former judge Edward Manibusan, an MRDC representative. “In this part of the world, there is a real opportunity to develop a resort and casino.”

Key among the issues addressed in the newly released assessment are the presence of the Tinian Monarch—a bird species threatened by loss of habitat—on the site and several archeological finds there. Consultant Timothy Lang said the project will maintain pockets of habitat for the birds on the resort’s grounds, in addition to leaving several major portions of the property undeveloped.

Most of the historical sites near the resort—such as a newly uncovered cave where archaeologists found a World War II-era Japanese corpse or another site with the remains of ancient latte stones—are slated to see a closer examination as the project moves forward and will either be preserved or left undisturbed, he added. Some of these finds border the planned golf course.

“It’ll be an interesting feature to have for people on the golf course, to be golfing around these historical sites,” he said, noting that after a study of wartime photographs, it appears the area around the resort saw significant development in the past.

Yet a major obstacle to the project is that the dumpsite where the company plans to build the hotel is the only depository of solid waste on the island. Plans to build a new one are now under way, yet Hofschneider said the pending military buildup in the region could complicate the effort. Without a new dump, he added, the hotel cannot be built.

“In our opinion, it needs to be done today,” he said.

The project will have two phases, he added. First will come the development of the golf course and later, after the dump is removed, construction will begin on the hotel. Exact figures on the price tag for the plan are unavailable.

The environmental assessment and a permit application for the plan is now in the hands of the CNMI’s Coastal Resources Management Office.