A Racing Resort in Daytona Beach
THE DAYTONA resort provides guests the ultimate refuge in luxury
In famous Daytona Beach, Florida, THE DAYTONA resort has set its mark as the flagship centerpiece of the ONE DAYTONA mixed-use center that includes hotels, luxury apartments, dining, and shopping options.
Landscape architecture firm Witkin Hults + Partners collaborated with Prime Hospitality Group, Shaner Hotels, and architectural firm Prime Design Associates to create the exterior areas of this prominent Autograph Hotel.
Surrounded by the energetic and vibrant entertainment area, THE DAYTONA resort provides guests the ultimate refuge in luxury, including balconies with views of the iconic speedway across International Speedway Boulevard. A pedestrian bridge now joins the two iconic sites and serves as an entryway for the city of Daytona Beach.
An Auto Racing Icon
Daytona Beach is known as the "World Center of Racing." The famed International Speedway just completed a 400-million-dollar renovation. The site is the home of the Daytona 500 that kicks off the annual NASCAR racing season.
Though the opening of the NASCAR Cup Series event garners most of the attention - as well as the largest audience in motorsports - the approximately 500-acre motorsports complex boasts the most diverse schedule of racing on the globe.
The Allure of the Area
Daytona Beach is also the home of magnificent beaches, picturesque sunsets, and mild sunny winters. Its shoreline is dubbed the "World's Most Famous Beach" for a variety of reasons, but mainly for its 23 miles of wide,
hard-packed white-sand beaches that welcomed the first automobile and motorcycle races in 1902.
To this day, cars are allowed on the beach's strip of sand that can be up to 500-feet-wide during low tide.
The city also hosts the legendary Bike Week. For over eighty years, hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists visit Daytona to spend ten days attending this historical event. Even though the city has over 200 hotels and over 12,000 rooms, Daytona's accommodations are at full occupancy during special events.
A Destination Resort
THE DAYTONA resort is part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott. It is a full-service hotel completed in 2019 by Prime Hospitality Group from Hollywood, Florida in conjunction with Shaner Hotels out of Pennsylvania.
Witkin Hults + Partners designed all the exterior amenity areas as a retreat from the hustle of ONE DAYTONA and the excitement of the Daytona International Speedway across the street.
Design Elements
The porte-cochere at THE DAYTONA boasts a dynamic paving pattern in contrasting pewter and charcoal silhouettes.
A functional car lift allows race cars to be showcased on the upper-level terrace. Clusters of Florida native Sabal palms soften the adjacent building walls on each side of the car lift. The porte-cochere provides direct access to the ground level pool and courtyard.
WH+P designed the resort style pool along with other exterior amenities such as a fire pit lounging area for this motor-themed resort. The muted shades of gray on the arrival courtyard and pool deck are in pewter and slate. This 12" x 3" paver complements the geometry of the contemporary seating areas, with bright yellow cushions to add a pop of color, in the courtyard.
This courtyard garden contains an elliptical fire pit that was custom designed by WH+P. This fire pit was designed with safety in mind. The 11'-6" wide basin contains a secondary level shelf within for the fire bowl to rest on. The design also included ground cover within the basin to further deter access to the fire bowl.
Curved concrete benches with cushions were built around the fire pit to provide a lounging area for day and night use.
As guests leave the intimate courtyard garden, the expanse of the pool deck opens to a stylish modern space with the same muted tones of grey. Three built-in cabana structures serve as a point of reference for the darker paver stripes that also define the pool features.
In the pool, slate color bands delineate the steps and swim out benches. The cabanas and perimeter privacy wall were designed by Prime Design Associates.
The wall pattern is interrupted by horizontal panels of grey wood that mimic the cabanas to create a cohesive appearance. White furnishings offer a clean, airy feel to the space. The planting palette is simple but effectively creates a haven with a series of tall signature date palms with colorful ground cover beneath.
One More Delight
Victory Circle is the center of entertainment at ONE DAYTONA with a full schedule that includes a professional fountain show. Weekly entertainment, community performances, and post-race after party events are all held there.
The signature second floor terrace at THE DAYTONA looks out at Victory Circle below. Its curved lounging
patio reflects the arc of the retail buildings along ONE DAYTONA's central plaza at ground level.
This series of curves lead to a giant video screen that plays races throughout the day. NASCAR fans can see actual race cars on display in this upper level podium courtesy of the lift below.
The tones of grey pavers were repeated on this terrace but installed in a dynamic linear pattern of varying width. The addition of a red stripe was added for interest and further emphasizes the racing stripe theme.
The curved screen also serves as a privacy wall for a more intimate garden behind. In order to maintain an intimate scale, the planting palette in this garden includes low slower growing ground material such as Pittosporum, Indian Hawthorn, and Podocarpus Pringles Dwarf.
Team List
Developer: Prime Hospitality Group
Architect: Prime Design Associates
Landscape Architect: Witkin Hults + Partners (Andrew Witkin, president / CEO; Kelly Ann Hults, managing partner; Chris Eaves, partner)
Interior Designer: Studio 11 Design
Civil Engineer: Zev Cohen & Associates, Inc.
MEP Engineer: Franyie Engineers, Inc.
Structural Engineer: De Los Reyes Engineering, Inc.
Food and Beverage Consultant: Atlantic Coast Fire
Life Safety Consultant: SLS Consulting, Inc.
