Soms Atoll / Radical Craft
Radical Craft was awarded third for their proposal Soms Atoll for the World Sustainability Center (one of the winning proposals by KOW was previously featured on AD). For the project, the architects questioned the possibility of the World Sustainability Centre in Friesland creating a new interpretation of the relationship between the man-made and the natural.
More about the proposal after the break.
The Soms Atoll operates at the scale of its context, becoming a destination landscape unto itself. The building creates a condition where man interacts intimately with the cycles of nature by asking the public and specialists to anticipate and respond to the environment on a daily, hourly basis. For instance, the Soms Atoll offers picture perfect silhouettes on the Waddenzee yet visitors may need to walk through the waters of high tide to cross the land bridge. Some may wait to see the perfect crescent of the lagoon form in the Atoll while others may be more interested in the tidal pools once the lagoon recedes. However, for all who visit, no matter their destination, they must start to align their desires with the rhythm of nature’s cycles.
The same terrain would be used for a variety of different activities as the tidal flats create the perfect location for gathering mussels, flying kites, riding bike or other activities more specific to the area while the open terrain also provides space where scientists and specialists could test and monitor new techniques for permaculture developments, water purification and desalinization, blue energy systems, and other green technologies.
Radical Craft / Joshua G. Stein
Soms Atoll Project Team:
Thurman Grant, Architect
Lisa Hollywood
Darius Woo
Jaclyn Thomforde
Hiroyuki Sugiyama
Yvette Escalante
Lisa Nesterova
Project: Soms Atoll - World Sustainability Centre
Location: Afsluitdijk, Netherlands
Designer: Radical Craft / Joshua G. Stein
Strange and possibly not that feasible but a rather nice, natural looking solution!
This is very similar to the city of culture of Galicia project near Santiago de Compostela. Peter Eisenmen is the architect, and it to creates buildings in the form of undulations of the land. Based on that project, this would be VERY expensive to do, and leave rather unimpressive interior spaces.