The Dune Retreat
IGA role: Landscape planning
Building along the beach is not an ideal scenario for an eco-architect or landscape designer. The beaches should be considered ecologically sensitive areas and if otherwise remain public or semi-public. Coasts are also areas of risks from natural disasters.
Whether some cases or projects make an exception or not, this could yet be subject for debate and sometimes unclear at the launch of the brief.
In such one degraded site, IGA first accepted to get involved, to check the feasibility, assess the potential and see whether the project and its requirements will develop and evolve in an ecologically sound direction or not.
Though the concept achieved an aesthetic satisfaction, the project’s balance between social and ecological benefits remained doubtful, leading to an eventual halt of IGA involvement at the end of the preliminary design.
The architectural design proposed restoring the sand dunes and reshaping the topography to create a protective barrier from the unpleasant surrounding. It also allowed to burry many of the functions whether service or main, protecting their elevations from direct heat yet compensating with light and natural ventilation through strategically located green pockets.
To the exception of the main reception area that was gradually comes out above ground to benefit from the view and proximity to the sea.
This approach additionally offered the advantage of making use of the roofs and granted the project with different promenades and trails at different levels. Vehicular access and drop-off at the lower level can blend with the pedestrian character of the site to achieve a different and friendly landscape.
Much of the landscape intervention goal resides in complementing the intent of the architectural design and speaking the same language where the limits inside-outside became totally blurred.
