Misratah
Misratah, Lybia
Residential complex with mosque and retail space such as bar, gym and shops
Info
2008-2009: Project
Project: IDxEA
Client: private
Total surface area: 16.090mq
Total volume: 42.557mc
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On the coast west of the city of Misrata, along a stretch of large sand dunes, the Misrata Resort brings together innovative architecture and design solutions that are radically inspired by Arabic traditions. The client’s guidelines were to design a resort complex in which all the apartments would face the sea and boast a contemporary functionality, fitted with state-of-the-art tecnologies and equipped with common areas and services such as a shop and a purpose-built mosque. These indications underpinned the design, which revolves around a channel running parallel to the beach and framed by two rows of residential structures, which are staggered so as to ensure each has a sea view. The marine element ideally reaches all the apartments by way of visual corridors that afford glimpses of paths, boardwalks, and breakwaters erected against the erosion of the beach.
Modelled after Arabic domestic architecture, the residential modules are built around a central courtyard, an open space overlooked by all the surrounding units This arrangement allows all the rooms a great deal of light and at the same time that introspective domestic intimacy that guarantees maximum privacy and relaxation. The rooms along the beach also boast striking terraces with sea views.
The perimeter of each house is marked by a distinctive modern design in which corners have been turned into sweeping curves, suggesting the erosion of the sea. The resulting contour of the buildings is ideal for windy weather; the winds roll off the curved facades which seem to mimic the rounded lines of the nearby dunes.
Like the ruins of the Roman villas unearthed in Sabratha, where the sea laps against the ancient walls of the site, the Misrata Resort fits in seaminglessly with the beach, caressed by the sea and the sea breezes. The central channel becomes the connecting infrastructure and a natural feature for the distribution of the water motif. The element of water, so rare and precious in this part of the world, wraps the resort buildings in its embrace and becomes the centrepiece of the design. Running between the buildings along the shared pathways, the sea reaches into the resort as far as the very end of the channel, where it encounters the community meeting place and spiritual centre of the entire complex and its guests: the mosque.
Modelled after Arabic domestic architecture, the residential modules are built around a central courtyard, an open space overlooked by all the surrounding units This arrangement allows all the rooms a great deal of light and at the same time that introspective domestic intimacy that guarantees maximum privacy and relaxation. The rooms along the beach also boast striking terraces with sea views.
The perimeter of each house is marked by a distinctive modern design in which corners have been turned into sweeping curves, suggesting the erosion of the sea. The resulting contour of the buildings is ideal for windy weather; the winds roll off the curved facades which seem to mimic the rounded lines of the nearby dunes.
Like the ruins of the Roman villas unearthed in Sabratha, where the sea laps against the ancient walls of the site, the Misrata Resort fits in seaminglessly with the beach, caressed by the sea and the sea breezes. The central channel becomes the connecting infrastructure and a natural feature for the distribution of the water motif. The element of water, so rare and precious in this part of the world, wraps the resort buildings in its embrace and becomes the centrepiece of the design. Running between the buildings along the shared pathways, the sea reaches into the resort as far as the very end of the channel, where it encounters the community meeting place and spiritual centre of the entire complex and its guests: the mosque.