Yac - Desert Accommodation - Honorable Mention | Michelangelo Tria

The project was born from the idea of developing a masterplan connected to the incredible beauty and natural morphology of the desert. Although the forms most present in the territory are those of the most modern organic architecture, the acceptance of historical and cultural pre-existing structures becomes the most important parameter as the material used to.
The theme of the oasis, often recurring in history, merges in this project with the most well-known Islamic garden and taking a cue from common symbols such as the octagon and the circle, it tries to develop an architectural pentagram that is well suited to this territory. The inclusion of an artificial river, a dear topic in Arabia - being the only region in the world without rivers - becomes a point of discovery and environmental, biological and vegetation mitigation, so the climate of comfort that is created by walking through this garden. The morphology of the paths, alternating in degree of importance and connected to descents along the dunes, is filled by the encounter with the well-known polarities required by the announcement, divided as follows: women's area, common area and men's area. The services are obtained at level -1, so that they are not visible. Furthermore, by exploiting the convective motions of the temperature difference between level -1 and level 0 and above all for the sinusoidal shapes of the roofs, it is possible to obtain environmental comfort even at low energy consumption. The heat is retained by the water which gives the room a correct percentage of freshness. The guest accommodations also offer sensational views to travelers wishing to stay there. The theme of hospitality, relaxation and meditation, reading and otium are contained in these connections: descending from floor 0, it is possible to come across gardens and caves in such a way as to find oneself and experience moments of spiritual peace, connected to the refined flora, which emanates perfumes. In a nutshell: desert perfumes.