DTJ Design, a multi-disciplinary architecture, planning, and landscape architecture practice, is supporting Baha Bay at Baha Mar in its bid for the Caribbean’s Leading Water Park in the 2026 World Travel Awards Caribbean Region.
The luxury water park has won the title for the last four consecutive years.
A win in 2026 would be unprecedented in the category and further cement Baha Bay's position as a benchmark for the industry, underscoring how DTJ Design’s approach goes beyond opening-day impact to deliver long-term performance.
John Torti, partner at DTJ Design, says: "A four-year run tells us the project is resonating extremely well in a highly competitive market, and it also speaks to the strength of the management and operations team at Baha Bay.
"The waterpark continues to perform as intended, evolving with the guest, staying relevant, and delivering at a high level. Being in the conversation for a fifth year reflects that long-term thinking we discussed very early on."
Voting for the 2026 World Travel Awards Caribbean opened on 30 March. Travel industry professionals and the public can support their chosen entries at worldtravelawards.com.
Luxury & thrills
The 15-acre beachfront park, Baha Bay, opened in July 2021 and serves the Baha Mar resort complex.
This luxury destination features three hotel brands, Rosewood, SLS, and Grand Hyatt, with over 45 restaurants and bars, a casino, and top-tier spa facilities.
This mix presented a unique challenge for DTJ Design, the park's prime consultant, leading concept visioning, master planning, architecture, and landscape architecture. Baha Bay needed to provide both world-class thrills and a luxury experience.
"Designing within a luxury resort context shifts the priorities entirely," says Torti. "It's not just about rides, capacities, and theming. It's about how the guest experiences the resort from morning to night.
"Our intention was to curate a one-of-a-kind experience, blending the sophistication of a luxury resort with the thrills of a world-class waterpark -that level of integration is something you simply don't encounter anywhere else."
Baha Bay's attractions include 24 water slides, a 500,000-gallon wave pool, the Caribbean’s only water coaster, a surf simulator, a lazy river, infinity-edge pools, a beach club, private cabanas, and The Pavilion, which brings the Baha Mar casino into the park.
Additionally, dining features world-renowned concepts such as Umami Burger and Sugar Factory.
Embedding storytelling and cultural identity
The design of Baha Bay is inspired by Bahamian architectural and cultural references, including Island Contemporary, British Colonial, and Traditional Bahamian influences.
Natural quartzite flagstone is used for surfaces from the pool sunshelves to planters, while local stone textures adorn water features, and shell patterns are embedded in the walkways. Bespoke artwork was created on-site by local Bahamian artists.
"Grounding the design in contextual Bahamian influences was essential.
"Guests may not always be able to articulate it, but they feel when a place is authentic; when the materials, the architecture, and landscape are all telling a consistent story. That’s what creates a sense of place that lasts, and ultimately what keeps a destination relevant over time."
The landscape architecture reiterates this approach, with specimen planting set within lush tropical vegetation that complements Nassau’s coastal environment and helps manage microclimates within the park.
Caribbean destinations are increasingly investing in experience-led differentiation, led by competition for tourism dollars, rising visitor expectations, and a growing emphasis on destination identity.
Within this landscape, the waterpark category at the World Travel Awards has come to represent how seriously destinations take design.
Baha Bay’s track record demonstrates that parks that sustain recognition over the long term are those in which storytelling and cultural identity are integrated from their inception, rather than layered on after construction.
"As we look ahead, the focus is on how the park continues to perform and evolve with the ever-changing market," says Torti.
"This kind of recognition reinforces our belief that when design is rooted in place and built with a long-term mindset, it doesn’t just open strong -it endures. That’s the approach we’re carrying into our projects around the world."
