Nautilus Eco-Resort

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE ARCHITECTS:

The Nautilus Eco-Resort project is a pioneering, eco-tourism complex designed to unite the knowledge of the scientific community with the willingness of eco-tourists to optimize the revitalization and protection of a degraded ecosystem such as in the Philippines. Based on biomimicry, the architectures of this Eco-Resort are inspired by the shapes, structures, intelligence of materials and feedback loops that exist in living beings and endemic ecosystems.

Each architectural entity offers a specific experience:

· Rotating triskeles: To the East, 12 small spiral towers of varying heights invite travelers to live in apartments turning on their axis and following the course of the sun. Distributed in three branches, the 54 modules of three dwelling units fully rotate 360 degrees in one day. The 162 apartments offer exceptional views towards the landscape. The facades are adjusted surfaces integrating ramps to access the panoramic terraces. The central mat incorporates the vertical circulation and is covered with lush vegetation walls. At the top, a triskel roof also integrates solar tubes producing hot water and photovoltaic pergolas.

· Green shells: To the West, 12 small museum-hotels in the form of a sea snails seem to emerge out of the water. On the lower floors, there are exhibition spaces explaining in particular the environmental and socio-cultural challenges of the archipelago. A bio-cement structural
moucharabieh is deployed in a three-dimensional spiral to cover the programmatic functions distributed in alcoves. This bio-cement incorporates microorganisms improving its performance by inducing the precipitation of calcium carbonates in recycled concrete, as does a real shell to form its exoskeleton. These 12-living nautiluses feature a self-stable shell covered with vegetable essences that are to be protected on the island. Their two openings form funnels and are closed by curtain walls, incorporating silicon cells in imposts and green balconies in cascades.

· Petals and corals: Punctuating the two-large golden spiral quays, small pavilions with organic and quasi-maternal shapes invite ecotourists to rest and relax along the water. The "petals" are covered with a vegetated hyperbolic roof while the shape of the "corals" is inspired by an Enneper triple surface, spiraling to erase any boundary between the inside and the outside. From each of their 22 pavilions, scientists have access to the fish and coral reef ponds in order to reintegrate endangered wildlife and plant life.

· Origami mountain: In the center of the lagoon, the scientific research center and the nautical recreation base are located under a CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) framework. This is covered with 360 degrees of undulating ramps unfolding like giant origami. On the roof, there are vegetable gardens and organic orchards supplying, in short circuit, the kitchens of the restaurants of the Eco-Resort. The architecture is furtive and resembles the surrounding hills. This artificial mountain has a sports pool and a seawater leisure pool surrounded by all the scientific laboratories in order to increase exchanges between researchers and ecotourists. It also hosts an elementary school, a children's home and sports halls for local youth.

Ethical and eco-friendly, the Eco-Resort promises to the host populations and travelers to be actively involved with engineers, scientists, and ecologists in the protection of the environment that it wants to discover. This collaborative concept offers responsible ecotourism based on education and interpretation in a natural environment, where the resources and well-being of local populations are to be preserved and gradually restored in a voluntary approach to "reimburse ecological debt".

By minimizing its ecological footprint, the experience is centered on the preservation of nature and local urban ecology while respecting endemic ecosystems and agro-ecosystems. While upgrading the natural heritage and culture, this "zero-emission, zero-waste, zero-poverty" project will be 100% built from reused and/or recycled materials from the archipelago.

Self-sufficient in energy and food, it will satisfy its needs thanks to renewable energies and permaculture. A zero-waste policy means that it will systematically upgrade its own waste into resources. Through a co-creation process, the Eco-Resort will contribute to the well-being of local communities by including them in its planning, development, and operation.

Through crowdfunding, the project will generate funds for the site's conservation with the association of preservation of fauna and flora. It will directly support local economic development in the form of jobs and income. Finally, it will encourage respect for the archipelago's different cultures.

It is above all a project made to exchange and transmit ecological gestures between the natives and the newcomers. It will ask volunteer ecotourists to clean the washed-up plastic waste from beaches, put in place "cradle to cradle" recycling schemes, learn permaculture, protect coral crops, restore reasonable fishing, which will allow nature to regenerate, or strengthen natural protection against flooding.

Editor's note: This description has been edited.