Vincent Callebaut Architectures has released a design proposal for a new eco-tourism resort in The Philippines inspired by natural coastline forms. Making extensive use of cradle-to-cradle and other sustainable design principles, the resort features a series of spiraling apartment buildings and shell-shaped hotel buildings, themselves positioned on two Fibonacci spirals of land in a coastal lagoon. At the center of the ensemble, a mountain-like complex combines a school, recreational swimming pools, sports halls, the resort's kitchens, and a suite of laboratories for environmental scientists.
Named the "Nautilus Eco-Resort," the project's eco-credentials were a focus of the design, with Vincent Callebaut Architectures pinpointing the environmental threats to the Philippine archipelago as inspiration for the design. The proposal includes a variety of renewable energy sources, including tidal and solar energy, with any surplus planned to be connected to the local grid and provided to the community.
The designs also heavily utilize sustainable materials, such as bio-concrete in the shell-shaped hotel facades, green walls, and cross-laminated timber in the central complex. The primary proposed transportation system for the resort is via boat, in an attempt to prevent the imposition of road infrastructure; the boats will have flat bottoms in order to prevent damaging the marine environment.
The goal of the resort is a symbiosis in which eco-tourism would fund the work of the resort's environmental scientists, while tourists and residents would be exposed to the scientific knowledge that is generated in the laboratories. This was the key intention behind the large cross-laminated-timber complex at the heart of the resort; by including both recreational and scientific spaces in the same building, it is hoped that more interactions could be encouraged between scientists and visitors.
"In a world that is shrinking," explained Vincent Callebaut Architectures in a press release, "the Nautilus Eco-Resort project wants to extend the field of action of a triple-zero eco-tourism: zero-emission, zero-waste, zero poverty. Discover the world without distorting it. Revitalize ecosystems instead of impoverishing and polluting them. Actively participate in the restoration of cultural heritage."
