Lagen Island Resort: Adaptive Reuse in Sustainable Interior Design

Lagen Island Resort in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, offers an interesting example of adaptive reuse in hospitality design. Instead of approaching renovation as a complete replacement of what already exists, the project takes a preservation-first direction, retaining and adapting much of the resort’s existing structure while renewing its interiors and guest experience.

Designed by WATG and Wimberly Interiors and completed in 2026, the renovation reworks a 6.39-hectare eco-resort within the dramatic landscape of Palawan. The design combines existing structures, indigenous materials, reused timber, Filipino craftsmanship, and stronger connections to the surrounding landscape.

This approach is particularly relevant to sustainable interior design. Rather than viewing an existing building as a limitation, designers can treat its structure, materials, history, and relationship with the site as resources. In this sense, adaptive reuse becomes not only a conservation strategy but also a creative design opportunity.

Starting With What Already Exists

One of the defining ideas behind the renovation is the decision to preserve rather than unnecessarily replace. According to WATG, approximately 80% of the existing structure was retained and adapted, helping extend the useful life of the original foundations, framing, and infrastructure.

This decision has implications beyond architectural conservation. Keeping an existing structure can reduce the demand for new construction materials and avoid some of the demolition and environmental disruption associated with a complete redevelopment.

The project therefore demonstrates a simple but important principle: before adding something new, designers can first ask what can remain.

That question is at the heart of adaptive reuse.

Giving Existing Materials a New Life

Material reuse is another important part of the Lagen Island transformation.

One particularly distinctive example is the resort’s original Narra wood flooring. Material from the former beachfront cottages was salvaged and given a new application as feature screens and decorative wall panels. WATG reports that close to 100 square metres of the timber were repurposed in this way

The significance of this decision goes beyond saving a quantity of timber. The material carries a connection to the earlier resort, allowing part of its physical history to remain visible in the renewed interiors.

For interior designers, this suggests another way of approaching material selection. Instead of beginning with a catalogue of new finishes, a renovation project can begin with an inventory of what is already available.

Timber, stone, doors, fixtures, furniture, flooring, and other components can then be assessed according to a series of possibilities: retain, repair, relocate, transform, or reuse.

In this way, material recovery can become part of the design concept itself.

Filipino Craftsmanship as Part of the Design

The sustainability story at Lagen Island Resort is not limited to physical resources. The project also draws on Filipino craftsmanship and regional traditions.

WATG describes the use of indigenous Palawan craft traditions, including weaving and carving, throughout the architecture, interiors, and food-and-beverage spaces. Indigenous materials and locally sourced construction techniques are also part of the renovation strategy.

This creates an important connection between material sustainability and cultural sustainability.

A place can preserve more than its buildings. It can also support craft practices, local knowledge, cultural expression, and relationships between designers, artisans, communities, and visitors.

As a result, craftsmanship is not simply an aesthetic layer added to the resort. It contributes to the sense of place that distinguishes the renewed interiors from a generic international hospitality environment.

Designing With Nature

The natural setting of Lagen Island is central to the project’s identity. The resort sits among limestone cliffs, turquoise waters, and tropical forest, and the renovation responds to these conditions rather than separating the interiors from them.

This relationship can be seen in the use of natural materials, views, vegetation, textures, and open connections between indoor and outdoor spaces.

The spa provides a particularly clear example. WATG describes a design that works around existing trees, incorporates the surrounding limestone landscape, and uses elevated flooring to maintain a lighter relationship with the forest floor.

Here, adaptive reuse and nature-sensitive design intersect. Preserving existing structures can also mean preserving established relationships between architecture, vegetation, landscape, and views.

For interior design, this offers a broader understanding of sustainability: the objective is not simply to select environmentally preferable products, but to consider how spaces interact with the ecological systems around them.

Preservation Instead of Complete Replacement

Renovation does not always have to begin with demolition.

The Lagen project demonstrates an alternative process in which existing structures are examined first and decisions are made about what should be retained, adapted, or transformed. WATG describes this as a preservation-first approach, with the renovation seeking to reduce unnecessary intervention within the sensitive island environment.

The project also reduced the resort’s room count from 51 to 42 keys. Rather than simply increasing capacity, the renovation placed greater emphasis on the quality of the guest experience and the relationship between the resort and its natural surroundings.

This is an important distinction for sustainable hospitality design. Adaptive reuse is not about preserving everything exactly as it was. Instead, it involves making thoughtful decisions about what deserves another life and how an existing place can accommodate new needs.

Circular Thinking Through Interior Design

The reuse of Narra timber illustrates how circular thinking can become part of an interior’s visual language.

Reclaimed materials can carry traces of previous use, giving spaces a sense of depth and continuity. At the same time, reusing an existing material can reduce the need to introduce an entirely new resource into the project.

This raises a useful question for contemporary interior design:

What if existing materials were treated as design opportunities rather than renovation constraints?

Such an approach could begin with a material audit before the specification of new finishes. Designers might document existing materials, determine their condition, identify their original and potential new functions, and then incorporate the most valuable elements into the new design.

Lagen Island Resort demonstrates how this way of thinking can contribute simultaneously to material conservation and interior identity.

Hospitality That Responds to Place

Hospitality interiors often need to balance contemporary expectations with the identity of their location. At Lagen, the renewed spaces respond to both the resort’s history and its setting.

The Water Villas and Forest Rooms & Suites use different relationships with their surroundings, while communal spaces incorporate local craft and material references. WATG also describes spaces such as the Sunset Bar, whose design draws inspiration from the Philippine Paraw boat and incorporates rope, wicker weaving, and mosaic details.

These choices demonstrate how cultural references can be integrated into architecture and interiors without simply reproducing traditional forms.

Instead, local influences can be translated into contemporary spatial experiences.

A Broader Definition of Sustainable Interior Design

Lagen Island Resort is useful as an Atlas case study because sustainability appears at several interconnected levels.

At the architectural level, much of the existing structure is retained.

At the material level, existing Narra timber is given another application.

At the cultural level, Filipino and Palawan craftsmanship contributes to the renewed identity of the resort.

At the ecological level, the design works carefully with the island’s forest, cliffs, vegetation, and surrounding environment.

And at the experiential level, the project uses these relationships to create a hospitality environment rooted in its particular location.

Together, these layers demonstrate that sustainable interior design does not have to be reduced to a checklist of environmentally friendly products.

It can instead become a way of working with existing value.

Why Lagen Island Resort Matters for Adaptive Reuse

The Lagen renovation offers an important lesson for designers working with existing buildings.

Adaptive reuse begins with a different question from conventional replacement. Instead of asking, “What should we build here?”, designers can begin by asking:

“What is already here, and what potential does it have?”

That potential may exist in a building’s structure, materials, spatial organization, cultural history, craftsmanship, landscape, or relationship with its users.

Lagen Island Resort shows how these existing qualities can become the starting point for a contemporary hospitality environment.

For interior designers in particular, the project demonstrates that preservation and creativity do not have to compete. Existing materials can become new design elements; local craft can shape contemporary interiors; and established relationships with nature can become part of the guest experience.

Conclusion

Lagen Island Resort provides a strong example of adaptive reuse in sustainable interior design, showing how an established hospitality property can evolve without treating its existing architecture and materials as disposable.

The renovation retains a substantial portion of the original structure, reuses Narra timber, incorporates Filipino craftsmanship, and strengthens connections between the resort’s interiors and the surrounding landscape.

More importantly, the project demonstrates a broader design principle: sustainability can begin with preservation.

By looking carefully at what already exists, designers can uncover materials, structures, cultural references, and spatial qualities that might otherwise be lost.

Transformation does not always begin with something new. Sometimes it begins by looking again at what already exists and discovering what it can become.