Riverine Eco-Resort

This tropical resort is an exploration of possibilities where people live in harmony with nature. By learning from the nature in place and the indigenous wisdom of the Mao and Li people,  our design emerges within the native context, becoming part of it, and honoring it to leave a more regenerative footprint.

This sanctuary is a place that is natural in all its aspects. Resources flow through it in closed loops and the strategies employed to do so are inspired by resource flows in nature. The resort grows into the land from the seeds of our ancestral wisdom and eventually decomposes back into the earth at the end of its life. During its lifetime, our design will enrich the land using ecological succession in landscaping, to regenerate the soil and land that was once distrubed by mining. Materials are carefully chosen to be sustainable whilst providing for the health and well-being of its inhabitants. It thrives and pulsates with diversity. Embodying optimization rather than maximization, it adequately fulfills the needs of all its inhabitants. This place embraces the natural cycles it exists within, and furthermore, leverages them for greater development. The systems of the resort are increasingly layered and nested, forming a complex network of value-added interdependencies. Rooted in regenerative design, the design shows how minimizing negative impacts is not enough, and how using holistic design practices creates positive impacts.

Location: Sanya | Hainan | China

Service: Circular Economy & Circular Design | Strategic Food & Water Design | Systems thinking | Biomimicry | Biophilia | Land assessment

Type: Competition

Partners: Amartya Architects

Team: Asha Singhal, Kassandra Huynh, Dias Joy, Sahil Saini

Design Period: May 2020 to Aug 2020

Awarded the Editor’s choice.