Project 3

These are inspirational architectures that have provided me guidance to the next step in the Wellness Clinic. To be built into the cliffs, to offer sustainable features, offer relaxation for the people, interaction of the surrounding cliff features and use the benefits of ramps and modulation of light to penetrate the interior of the building.

The inspiration are as follows:

Xuankong Temple is one of the ancient Chinese architectures situated on the sheer cliff face 1400 years ago. Its layout is particularly delicate as it has statues from Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

This hotel (below) has been built into the cliffs creating a camouflaged quality which I hope to possess for my wellness clinic. The facade is a simple geometric glass aesthetic which is economically viable and allows penetration of sunlight.

 

A piece of unique architecture... is it virtual, historic, and haunting? The atmosphere of the surrounding mountains and being built into hard rock gives this structure a feeling of scale. The long vertical sections of undulating columns, the foreseen long stair cases portray this feeling of heaviness of an awkward piece. The peaceful feelings come from the temples positioned varyingly on the perimeter of the site, giving it more importance depending on the functions of this building. As a wellness clinic the peaceful feelings will come from the varying positions of the modules on site, as this architecture portrays. The central area brings them together will be centred but not to be daunting and overpowering.

 

This is the Mesa Verde (below), the ruins of the ancestral Puebloan people which possess a peaceful and spiritual quality for the tourists. There are cliff dwellings crafted into the rock structure emerged from within the cliff face. It represents the seven centuries of habitation where the cliffs were only occupied during the last two centuries. They made rectangular pit houses built up with poles and sticks plastered into the mud. The dwellings were interconnected into a main ceremonial and community area. It brought a sense of community and the people became a cooperative peaceful society. Their style of design has become popular in adobe blocks and stacking of rectangular shapes. They were sustainable in the positioning on the south slope to improve solar gain for their gardens and where the cold air can slide down off the canyons into the mesa.

The cliffs were an area of comfort for the people and gave advantages to the community by being close for support. The rooms in the dwelling become a part of the cliff giving off this sense of nature and interaction. By building into the cliffs it also brings cool in summer and warmth in winter and protection from winds and rain. The facing to the south allows for the sun to enter in the openings and warms the stones which give off heat at night. In summer, the sun is high and cannot reach the interior thus making it cooler.  The other sustainable qualities are orientation to collect solar energy; small entrances with ventilation holes giving it excellent energy efficiency; built with local and natural materials; and built lasting over many centuries with less to no maintenance. We all live in Mother Nature so we need to enhance and look after our surrounding environments. The building into the rock gives the design many sustainable benefits both economically, socially and culturally.   

When buildings are built into their environment they become less obtrusive, interact with the surrounding qualities by being a subtle factor. It portrays a quiet atmosphere which is a feeling wanted in a wellness clinic; to be not easily seen and allow people to relax and feel centred.

 

The power plant (below) does this remarkably well as the designers of Hinton Cook Architects proposed to do with the new hidden and disguised entry. It consists of a lattice timber with green colour panels and a green roof which camouflages into the resembling trees and makes the surrounding forest stand out. In the wellness clinic this is crucial as the clinic is to be camouflaged and still give full attention to the cliff and its abstractive shapes and textures.

 

A retreat built in the woods consisting of a rectangular structure with features of open glass façade joined by timber planking.  It’s called a Minimum house as it’s an airy structure allowing the penetration of light. On three sides there are floor to ceiling windows with a thick timber roof and back wall to compliment the glass facades. The windows reduce the solar gain while flooding the interior with light. The users will feel like they are sitting amongst the trees while being inside. This house is sustainable by passive heating in the ceiling, solar panels, green roof and built out of local timber materials. It’s rather a peaceful eco escape for a family or an individual to regain relaxation and a spiritual connection to themselves. This provides an insight how to create a relaxing atmosphere which the wellness clinic requires.

 

The resort village is built into an excavated cliff face in Canari and replacing that part of the mountain by using green architecture. This design has been innovatively designed from an existing factory that reflects verticality while still allowing its roads and other surrounding facilities resume their functions.  Since it is in Canari, where the history is preserved, cultural footprints and geological characteristics are left to provide a sense of unique character. This characteristic of preserving the surrounding environment is necessary in the wellness clinic as it to brings forth peace and relaxation; just as the Canari islands brings to this resort village.

 

This is a school in Mumbai (below) positioned between a rock cliff and an existing school making this a tight constrained site. The project required to bring light into the building, just as the Wellness Clinic requires. The architects have achieved this by releasing the basic elements from the cliff and offsetting the floors to allow the cliff face to act as a light washer. The main atrium and staircase is the intriguing part of the design as it shifts with the contours of the cliff thus resulting in a circulation route always in touch with the cliff. The exterior façade has been envisioned to not articulate an elevation as it won’t be viewed from a great distance as its surrounding on all three sides. The floor slabs have expressed as “floating” as the exterior glass is set back two meters all around the building to allow this visual continuity and light penetration. It also ensures there is always a visual appearance of the cliffs.
The Wellness Clinic will require this strategy to be partly implemented along with a strategy of the use of ramps and stairwell to lead users from one module to the other.

 

A representation of the ramps and stairs and penetration of light is illustrated above. This is mesmerising and should be taken as inspiration into the Wellness Clinic design.
The ‘Temple of Hatshepsut’ (below) represents the most successful pharaoh of the 18^th in Egyptian dynasty. This is a masterpiece of architecture built into a cliff face that rises sharply above and offers a spectacle of scale and height. The material used has made this piece camouflaged into the existing site.