The St. Regis Cap Cana Resort offers more than luxury; it is a bold architectural statement designed by Acebal Canney Arquitectos & Asociados, led by Mexican-Dominican architect Alejandro Acebal Canney. Framed by the Caribbean Sea and the iconic Punta Espada Golf Course, the resort’s site presented both a rare opportunity and an architectural challenge to create something truly unprecedented.

Instead of a conventional centralized layout, the team embraced a horizontal, asymmetrical approach inspired by the geometries of the surrounding golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus. Much like a dogleg hole bends and reveals new perspectives in a golf course, the resort layout features turning points and staggered volumes that reveal 180° views of the sea, cliffs, and greens, transforming each spatial transition into a discovery.

The result is a resort that’s visible from all angles and yet never intrusive. Terraced volumes with green roofs emulate the cliffs of Cap Cana, blending seamlessly with the topography. The true inspiration was remembering when Jack Nicklaus was sketching the Punta Espada Golf Course: he would start by drawing a circle, then a straight line, followed by another circle, measuring how many yards that shot would cover. Most people see a golf course as an organic landscape, but in the architect's mind, he began to see the circles and lines—an approach he wanted to carry into the architecture of the hotel. He designed from the air as much as from the ground.

One of the most distinctive reinterpretations in this property, is one of The St. Regis brand’s signature spaces, the Long Gallery. What traditionally is a corridor connecting key areas and amenities, at Cap Cana it becomes a five-story-high atrium inspired by a cenote, with a cascading waterfall and a skylight that makes the water appear to fall from the sky. At its core are the Dancing Stairs, which vertically connect signature brand spaces in a visual crescendo. This atrium is a ritual of light, water, and elevation, an architectural performance.

Further rooting the design in Dominican heritage, the traditional Cognac Room has been reimagined as a Rum and Cigar Club, honoring the region’s iconic exports. The St. Regis brand offers creative freedom to interpret its signature spaces through local identity, and Acebal Canney pushed that to the limit.

The guest experience flows across long corridors, panoramic lounges, and sculpted transitions, all carefully studied and designed through continuous virtual walkthroughs to ensure that every space is an experience in itself. After a six-year process from concept to execution, the result is a resort that challenges conventions of hospitality design.