The site is located at the base of a valley, between the houses that slope downhill and the beach. The place of the valley is very enclosed, surrounded by trees and with a strong focal point towards the sea through a small bay on the south side. The waterfront along the bay is made up of very attractive folded strata from the pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic eras.
We intend that the project shall reconcile the large footprint defined on the competition brief with the fragile balance between the village, the hills and the views towards the sea. We partially sunk the spaces of the brief in order to reduce the volume of the monitoring house and to make use of the rooftops for new public space, which will serve both locals and visitors: The village relates to the two roofs and the outer landscape relates to the new building walls. Through this strategy, the new building will improve the living dynamic of the village without disrupting the visual relation between the whole village and the sea.
In our vision, the project has to be a dialogue with the landscape of the natural shoreline, with its curved folded strata rising towards the pine tree tops. The project defines two folded volumes that continue the curvilinear morphology of the rock formation. These two curved stone walls establish a clear theme for the project, relating it to the context of the geological shape of the coastline and the imagination of the community, for whom the image of this shoreline is an essential identity icon.
As the volumes assume a formal continuity with the landscape, the spaces inside are rendered with the poetic notion of inhabiting the landscape of the rockery. The design has been developed with the consistent idea of inhabiting a ruin of nature.
The roads running down slope in the North-South direction will all lead to the proposed public space in the design, making these new public spaces visible and part of the residents` lives. The main road will become very qualified with the new square at the highest level, the entrance to the center and a wide empty space on the southern part of the lot.
The two proposed volumes are assumed as landscaped forms, with controlled openings to allow for strategic views of the sea from inside and concentrate the life and views in the project towards the courtyards.
The top volume will house the Multi-media Library and the Experience Center. This volume is very porous, with courtyards and passages that allow people to circulate across. An underground corridor connects the experience center to the Monitor room to allow for visitors to see the operation through a glass.
The project has a total gross floor area of 719,45 square meters, with 251 square meters for the Public Engagement facilities and 467 square meters for the Monitoring Center facilities.
The project is to be built using typical concrete structure. The two main curved walls are to be clad in stone, with tones of granite similar to the rock formations on the shoreline. All exterior walls in the courtyards are to be fair concrete faced, and all the interiors are to have white color finishing, either plastered and painted, using white metal panels or by use of white colored stone.
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