The creation of the Muraka, a Maldivian underwater hotel: A story of sea life, more-than-human architecture, and alloútopic tourism

Abstract

Answering Huijbens and Jóhannesson’s call to investigate tourist destination development through a relational ontology marked by a vital materialism, this paper focuses on the creation of the Muraka. The Muraka is the underwater villa of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island—an ultra-luxury resort located in Alifu Dhaalu Atoll. No social scientific research has ever been conducted at underwater hotels. Drawing upon fieldwork at the Muraka—part of a broader project on three underwater hotels (conducted in Singapore, Tanzania, and the Maldives), we aim to contribute original knowledge to more-than-human geographies and tourist studies by bringing attention to the architectural relations that entangle underwater hotels with their environments. In doing so we become attuned to more-than-human lives and create narratives that can help us imagine new relations with the planet both within and beyond the realm of tourist encounters. By focusing in particular on the creation of the Muraka through the lens of the original concept of alloutopia, we contribute to non-representational and more-than-human perspectives on tourism