lake powell

New Villa and Tent Design Dimensions for Amangiri: An Interview With Homi Vazifdar

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, By Design

For those of us who have lived in the high desert and camped in the red rock country of Southern Utah, we understand its magic. We understand why many of the great belief systems of both the cultures of East and West were borne in the desert, as you can almost hear whispers of Deity, punctured through the sanctified silence. We also understand, when spending time at the Escalante Staircase, or the Vermilion Cliffs, our miniscule place in the trajectory of history, resting amid billion year old sculpted rocks, along paths trod first by dinosaurs. We never thought that this land could be used for anything commercial. And yet, on a rock escarpment, under the the spangled scarf of the Milky Way, lies Amangiri.

The name, Amangiri, is derived from Sanskrit, meaning 'peaceful mountain.' It is the latest offering from Aman Resorts, and is located in a very unusual place -- in the center of the Grand Circle, surrounded by the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Grand Staircase – Escalante, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. It is in the Red Rock country of Southern Utah, and has one of the most dramatic, colorful, yet mysterious and isolated topographies anywhere. This ancient part of the world encompasses and projects the natural (versus cultural) meaning of luxury – involving time's irrelevance, desert peace, and needful human anonymity gratefully experienced under the cliffs and stars.

Tags: Adrian Zecha, Amangiri, AmanResorts, Escalante Staircase, Four Corners Area Southern Utah, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Homi Vazifdar, Lake Powell, Luxury tents, Red Rock Country Southern Utah, Southern Utah resorts, Vermillion Cliffs

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First Amangiri Villas Hit The Market

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

I first wrote about Amangiri, the second U.S. offering from AmanResorts (the other, the Amangani, is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming) way back in 2005. Now three years later the first eight villas in the Lake Powell area of Southern Utah, are hitting the market at a very hefty $7 million each. The first eight are part of a total of 31 villas being created by the resort's developer, Canyon Group. The Amangiri Resort is scheduled to open at the start of 2009. The villas sit on private home sites that range from 1.3 to 10 acres and are designed to blend into the landscape. They feature multiple pavilions around a central swimming pool and firepit and each villa also incorporates a unique signature feature, such as an arroyo meditation platform. Can the struggling Southwest real estate market support this type of high-end real estate? Three years ago it seemed like a great idea, now it's less of a sure thing.

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Tags: amangiri, lake powell, real esate, utah, villas