[7] The hotel was one of Geoffrey Bawa's last major projects,[8] which Patrick Kunkel of ArchDaily believes "represents a slightly more minimalistic approach to his architectural design informed by his earlier work.

"[10] For the building design Bawa returned to a simple rest house layout, which he first used in 1967 for the Serendib Hotel, but reinterpreted on a grand scale with expansive courtyards and limitless vistas.

The entrance doors open out to a long axial arcade running across a large garden court, past the hotel lobby and out through the coconut grove towards the sea and the horizon.

David Robson in his book, Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works, states "the sequence of spaces is formal and controlled; the materials highly polished, light in tone and muted in colour and the architecture restrained but monumental.

"[11] The hotel is an example of Bawa’s minimalist style, use of space, lengthy corridors, open views, water, terracotta tiles and frangipani trees.