Tag Archives: eco-friendly hotel

Off-grid treehouse style villas make up this eco-resort that takes inspiration from Mobula Rays

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Playa Viva is an ecoresort in Juluchuca, Mexico made up of off-grid treehouse-style villas with roofs shaped like the wings of Mobula Rays.

The beauty of biophilic architecture is that nature provides the blueprint. In environments with dense foliage and rough terrain, integrating the natural landscape into the lay of the building helps define the floor plan’s parameters and the building’s structural shape. Immersing guests in nature, biophilic architecture artfully dissolves the barrier between the outdoors and interior spaces. Atelier Nomadic, a Rotterdam-based architecture firm that specializes in biophilic architecture, designed Playa Viva, an eco-resort village of treehouse-style villas that plants guests right on the surf of the Pacific Ocean in Juluchuca, Mexico.

Designer: Atelier Nomadic

Unlike their usual approach, Atelier Nomadic had to meet with the client behind Playa Viva online as a result of the pandemic restricting travel. From these virtual workshops, the architects with Atelier Nomadic envisioned Playa Viva’s structural shape to replicate the flexed wings of a Mobula Ray. A familiar sight to the shores of Mexico, Mobula Rays seem to encapsulate Atelier Nomadic’s mission for integrating nature into their designs, as well as the spirit of Playa Viva. Functioning like a gigantic umbrella, the hyperbolic and paraboloid-shaped roof offers total coverage from the blazing sun and heavy rain. On the opposite end, each treehouse villa is propped up on a collection of wooden stilts that support the larger bamboo dwelling.

Chosen for its speedy regenerative process, Guadua bamboo comprises the build of each villa’s main living volume, roof structure, facade louvers, and ceiling. In the main living volume, guests can find the main bedroom and untouched views of the ocean, while enjoying natural cross-ventilation from the bamboo louvers. Besides Guadua, fishpole bamboo was used to give rise to Playa Viva’s annex building’s walls and facade panels. In each structure, Cumaru timber was chosen for the flooring. In the annex structures, Atelier Nomadic placed the bathroom and additional sleeping accommodation, or a lounge area.

As part of Playa Viva’s eco-resort appeal and mission, each villa is entirely self-sustained, garnering energy from the sun to power each facility and amenity. In close collaboration with the local community, Playa Viva supports health and education services for locals and works on a year-round basis to restore the surrounding land. Offering access to the rugged, unspoiled beauty of Mexico’s land, Playa Viva also works hard to protect it through the La Tortuga Viva Turtle Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization rooted in sea turtle conservation.

The post Off-grid treehouse style villas make up this eco-resort that takes inspiration from Mobula Rays first appeared on Yanko Design.

These floating bamboo bungalows make up an eco-tourist hotel that pays homage to the local turtles!

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Turtle Bay is an eco-tourist destination in Thailand’s Hua Hin on Khao Tao Reservoir that combines sustainable design with local building material to home in on the hotel’s commitment to preserving the ecosystem that surrounds it.

Hua Hin, a popular seaside town in Thailand, is no stranger to turtles. In Thai folklore, turtles are known for bringing good fortune and prosperity, positioning the animal and lucky icon as a generous source of inspiration for designers and architects alike.

Welding the good fortune of turtles with the lush landscape of coastal Thai towns, architect Sarawoot Jansaeng-Aram from Dersyn Studio Co., Ltd. designed and constructed Turtle Bay, an eco-tourist destination that floats atop the lotus-covered Khao Tao Reservoir.

Taking up almost an acre’s worth of land, Turtle Bay is comprised of five floating bungalows that connect to one another via wooden walking ways. In Thai, Khao translates to ‘mountain,’ and Tao translates to ‘turtle.’ Finding inspiration in the reservoir’s namesake, Jansaeng-Aram designed each bungalow to appear like oversized bamboo turtles.

Leaning into the shingle-like shell of turtles, Jansaeng-Aram topped each bungalow with shingled roofs to bring out the stone and gravel chipped texture. Moving from the roof to the bungalow’s facade, Jansaeng-Aram turned to locally sourced bamboo building material for its flexibility and easy assembly process that doesn’t require heavy machinery.

The interior of Turtle Bay bungalows finds temperate conditions from a local building secret. “Poon Tum” is a locally sourced and sustainable building method trusted for its ability to maintain a moderate interior temperature. Found in the construction of ancient temples around Thailand, “Poon Tum” provides ample ventilation and long-lasting durability.

Speaking on the creative direction behind the chosen building materials, Jansaeng-Aram notes, “These ways of designing offer sustainable architectural design aspect like natural ventilation, called “Stack Effect” and extending the roof to create sun shading. Solar cell equipment [is] also used on some [roofs] where possible. The electric power generated from natural light during the daytime will be used to light up the electric-bulb during the night-time.”

Designer: Sarawoot Jansaeng-Aram from Dersyn Studio Co., Ltd.

The post These floating bamboo bungalows make up an eco-tourist hotel that pays homage to the local turtles! first appeared on Yanko Design.

These conic ecotourism cabins designed with bamboo framing offer panoramic views of Mexico’s natural beauty!

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Stationed atop turquoise rivers and surging waterfalls, Cocoon Villas comprise an ecotourism village in Mexico’s Huasteca potosina region.

Located in Mexico’s San Luis Potosí, Huasteca potosina is a geographical and cultural region known for its myriad waterfalls, turquoise river streams, huge canyons, and lush jungle ecosystems. While it’s one of Mexico’s best-kept secrets, people from across the world visit the region for its extreme sports attractions, cenotes, and hiking trails. Adding to the region’s slim catalog of eco-friendly architecture and tourist accommodations, GAS Architectures unveiled visuals for a cluster of conic, ecotourism villas called Cocoon Villas located in the verdant woodlands of Huasteca potosina.

Located next to the river, the Cocoon Villas as currently envisioned offer panoramic views of the surrounding environment through a glass facade that’s crisscrossed with diamond bamboo joists. The diamond bamboo framing supports and protects each villa’s structure with natural waterproof and insect repellent properties, similar to Kevlar. Each villa comprises two floors, the ground level is reserved for social gatherings whereas the top floors are kept for sleeping and panoramic vista points.

In addition to its protective measures, the bamboo joists play with the natural sunlight to form unique shadows throughout the home during the day.

Then at night, the diamond bamboo support framing offers only a touch of privacy, not that you’d need it in the Huasteca potosina jungle.

Ecotourism is an essential subset of tourism, especially in regions like Huasteca potosina–a bountiful, natural oasis in Mexico not well known outside of the country. Ecotourism helps to preserve and sustain natural wonders like Husteca potosina. The cluster of Cocoon Villas from GAS Architectures was designed to immerse visitors in the beauty and adventure of Husteca potosina without disrupting its wilderness.

Designer: GAS Architectures

Neutral beige tones fill out the interior of Cocoon Villas to form a bright, open space during the day.

Outfitted with crescent-shaped pools and a lounge area, each Cocoon Villa would come with its own outdoor deck space.

The cluster of Cocoon Villas forms a tight-knit community. 

The decks are oriented in ways so privacy is always accessible.

This sustainable floating luxury hotel powered by clean energy has a revolving platform & is mobile!

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This Eco-Floating Hotel in Qatar is raising the bar for eco-friendly travel and tourism! Powered by wind + solar energy it also features tidal sustainability mechanisms and a revolving restaurant to give you ALL the best views. Designed by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS), the hotel would span over 35,000 sq m (376,000 sq ft) and house 152 rooms. The giant glass donut-shaped structure has a lush green cover integrated into its exterior and a mesmerizing indoor waterfall with a huge vortex-like glass roof.

Sustainability is at the core of this project and all of the design details are centered around it. The vortex shape of the roof will actually be used to collect rainwater for irrigation and more while solar panels + wind turbines will provide clean energy. Even the water current will be harnessed with a tidal energy system so when the hotel turns it can produce power similar to a dynamo. The hotel also intends to purify seawater and treat the wastewater it produces so it doesn’t harm the environment. Speaking of waste management, the team aims to develop waste separation units for efficiency and to use them as fertilizer in the landscape for the recycling of substances such as food waste.

With the aim to create maximum benefit towards maintaining ecological balance, the hotel will use a green energy production method called vawtau (vertical axis wind turbine and umbrella) which works as a wind turbine on the vertical axis and it has a function as a sun umbrella on the coastal band. Up to 25 kW of electrical energy can be obtained from each of the 55 vawtau modules which use wind flow caused by temperature difference in sea and land as its working principle. The greenery will help in regulating the temperature while also maintaining the flow of fresh air naturally.

The hotel will be located just off the shore and on a series of floating platforms and guests can access it via the 140-degree connecting pier, a boat, or a helicopter. The rotating platform will move very slowly – one revolution will take 24 hours – so guests won’t be dizzy and can enjoy the amenities like the spa, the pool, mini-golf, and the gym. The rotating movement is controlled by a dynamic positioning system that consists of a series of thrusters and propellers just like the ones that help ships stay on the right course. A luxurious 700 m2 lobby sits in the center featuring transparent vertical surfaces that let in natural light and give a light, airy, flowing visual effect. Each room comes with its own balcony and will offer different perspectives of the hotel and the views as it rotates slowly.

What makes it interesting is that although Eco-Floating Hotel is a project whose first leg is planned to take place in Qatar, the team is designing it in a way that it can be taken to different places with special mobile features. “Our team is working and studying with technical consultants and experts from different fields. This project adopts the motto of minimum energy loss and zero waste as a principle according to the design approach it has put forward. Due to its characteristic moving feature, it generates electrical energy by rotating around its position according to the water flow and provides users with different perspective experiences,” says HAADS.

It was inspired by the sea with which it is associated in every sense especially in its shape which was guided by whirlpools. Whirlpools form a rotation around themselves in a regular flow and that is reflected in the hotel’s shape which seems to have risen with its borders and evolved into a structure. The idea of the whirlpool also inspired the rotating platform and revolves around itself within the framework of controls in order to ensure electrical energy efficiency and everchanging panoramic views. Eco-Floating Hotel aims to minimize its intervention in the ecological balance by not using fossil fuels at any stage. These are all ambitious integrations and HAADS mentioned that feasibility and technical studies are currently ongoing to try and make this a reality by 2025.

Designer: Hayari Atak Architectural Design Studio

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This cabin is elevated by a single pillar above Finland’s dense forest for an immersive winter getaway!

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Dedicated to providing eco-friendly micro-hospitality solutions in far-reaching destinations, Studio Puisto is at it again. Following the success of their tiny, modular cabin design, ‘Space of Mind’, Studio Puisto, a sustainable interior design studio based in Finland, recently debuted the first prototype of cabins soon to be part of a larger hospitality project called Kivijärvi Resort. Once completed, the resort, situated near Salamajärvi National Park, will comprise of 25 cabins that vary in both design and structure to adhere to the ever-changing landscape of Finland’s dense, snow-covered forest, offering accommodations for guests looking for an elevated, yet immersive getaway in nature.

The resort’s first completed cabin is called Niliaitta, which refers to the traditional storage structure built at the end of a high pillar, used by the Sámi people to store food and equipment, keeping it safe from the grasp of hungry or curious wildlife. In order to immerse guests of Kivijärvi Resort in the elements of nature as safely, but also as close as possible, Studio Puisto installed a floor-to-ceiling window that stands some distance from the cabin’s deep gable roof. From Niliaitta’s front-facing window, guests enjoy the most dominant landscapes as the cabin’s location was purposefully selected to offer the most unobstructed views of Finland’s forest and nearby body of water. The cabin itself is painted twilight black to disappear into the darkness come night, but the warm, wooden panels that line Niliaitta’s interiors provide a cozy refuge that glows with relaxed, ambient lighting.

Maintaining the forest’s original terrain was a top priority for the architects at Studio Puisto, which meant that Niliaitta’s location was strategically decided upon based on whichever location required the least number of trees to be cut down. Since the whole structure rests only on a single pillar, there was only minimal contact with the natural environment and landscape during construction – the final structure requiring the removal of only a few trees. When sourcing their material for construction, Studio Puisto avoided plastic, opting instead for wood to build the cabin’s frame, walls, roof, and base. In a similar pursuit of sustainability, Niliaitta was insulated using eco-wool, a natural type of thermal insulation that traps air in millions of tiny air pockets found in the insulator’s fibers.

With both hospitality and sustainability at the forefront of these designers’ plans for Kivijärvi Resort, Niliaitta currently offers all the luxuries found in high-end hotel experiences including, a ventilation unit, air-source heat pump, water heater, and electrical switchboard. Then, a bathroom, spacious shower, as well as a kitchenette can all be found in the rotating core in the middle of the cabin in addition to the more mechanical luxuries mentioned above. Water, sewer, and electrical lines run to Niliaitta under the cabin’s external staircase. Offering guests with these conveniences of daily life was just as important to Studio Puisto as was the cabin’s elevated immersive nature, “The idea is that by simply retreating away up in the air, we feel immediately detached from our everyday worries happening on the ground.”

Designer: Studio Puisto