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Assignment 3: Forest Retreat
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This is our last project for the Design Studio II module, It is an individual project which we have to pay a visit to our given site at KL Eco Forest Park, and choose a spot to build our retreat house in. The maximum floor area of our forest retreat house should not exceed 150 meter square.
For my experience on site, what I liked the most in this site is the harmonious relationship between man-made and nature. It is what makes this forest park unique from many others, aside from being green and natural, we could catch a glimpse of the KL's cityscape from the gaps between trees, and also above and beyond them. The blend of cityscape and forest is the very feature that attracts me and inspires me to my design.
Above: Interesting shades found on site.
My design concept is quite simple. I wanted my retreat house to capture the most of the best sceneries on site, and also I wanted it to blend in harmonically to the site context and its surroundings,to be a whole with nature. Because of that I had done my research on organic architecture as well as biomimicry in architecture, and from there I advanced on to my design.
The form of my retreat house is inspired by rocks growing from a cliff. The retreat house, named "Replica", is partially submerged into the ground, camouflaging itself in the context, while also using the earth to cool down its interior.
The abundant presence of shade and shadows on site provided the opportunity to minimize use of solid walls and replace them with transparent glass, to open up views outwards, and bring the natural landscape inside to the interior space. The use of concrete as main material gives support to the house and also have the appearance or a raw, organic aesthetic. Concrete ages well, and as moss grows, it will blend better within the site context.
There are a observatory placed at the topmost floor of the retreat house, inspired by a bird's nest that houses on a tree.
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The spaces in the house is also ventilated by a passive ventilation system, similar as how an african termite's mount ventilates itself.
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