14th International Architecture Exhibition/ Fundamentals

Tourism Landscapes

Tourism: circa 1810, from tour + -ism.

Tour: circa 1300, from old French tor, tourn, tourn "a turn, trick, round, circuit, circumference," from torner, tourner "to turn". Sense of "a continued ramble or excursion" is from 1640s.

Contour: circa 1660, from French contour "circumference, outline," from Medieval Italian contornare "to go around," from Latin prefix com-, + tornare.

A line on a chart delineating those points which have the same altitude or other plotted quantity: a contour line or isopleth. A project for tourism accommodation in the Greek landscape, as a technically inserted, curved, contour line. A line that follows, embraces, accentuates its semi-arid landscape: like a linear dry stone wall. The project researches the possibility of an accommodation unit that lies in-between those that declare their faith to absolute dispersion or to absolute density. In-between paradisiacal bungalows or super-luxury hotels. A linear unit, consisting of units: next to one another. One storey, grounded units of different typology, just next to one another. The project lies in a bold landscape gesture that attempts to refute the sense of ‘storage’ -eminent in hotel accommodation: its touring residents simply neighbour, lie side by side -while in-between their private open spaces, mass is interposed. The gesture’s length and its broken rhythm is imposed by the Greek Aegean landscape itself, by its calm, welcoming lines. The unit is 300 meters long, with three wings that follow the contour. The same contour is adopted by the road that links the unit to the island’s interior, the pedestrian path that accesses the rooms and a trail that continues along the coast. 100 beds are hosted, the 300 meters length seems to be the line’s maximum functional length. The elevation’s proportion is roughly 1/100, but as the contour approaches the sea it gains in height: it is were the reception and services are hosted, as well as an escalating terrace. An equally escalating path interwined with an oblique concrete wall leads to the rocky seaside terrain and the necessary pier, while curvilinear or freeform paths connect the unit to the beach or the mountain. Con-tour: an accommodation project as an earthy turn, a tense, porous, dry wall, a welcoming concrete ‘tour’ that re-turns to the landscape itself. Not only as form but as a new model of ex-posed, frugal, primordial co-habitation.

14th International Architecture Exhibition/ Fundamentals

Tourism Landscapes

Tourism: circa 1810, from tour + -ism.

Tour: circa 1300, from old French tor, tourn, tourn "a turn, trick, round, circuit, circumference," from torner, tourner "to turn". Sense of "a continued ramble or excursion" is from 1640s.

Contour: circa 1660, from French contour "circumference, outline," from Medieval Italian contornare "to go around," from Latin prefix com-, + tornare.

A line on a chart delineating those points which have the same altitude or other plotted quantity: a contour line or isopleth. A project for tourism accommodation in the Greek landscape, as a technically inserted, curved, contour line. A line that follows, embraces, accentuates its semi-arid landscape: like a linear dry stone wall. The project researches the possibility of an accommodation unit that lies in-between those that declare their faith to absolute dispersion or to absolute density. In-between paradisiacal bungalows or super-luxury hotels. A linear unit, consisting of units: next to one another. One storey, grounded units of different typology, just next to one another. The project lies in a bold landscape gesture that attempts to refute the sense of ‘storage’ -eminent in hotel accommodation: its touring residents simply neighbour, lie side by side -while in-between their private open spaces, mass is interposed. The gesture’s length and its broken rhythm is imposed by the Greek Aegean landscape itself, by its calm, welcoming lines. The unit is 300 meters long, with three wings that follow the contour. The same contour is adopted by the road that links the unit to the island’s interior, the pedestrian path that accesses the rooms and a trail that continues along the coast. 100 beds are hosted, the 300 meters length seems to be the line’s maximum functional length. The elevation’s proportion is roughly 1/100, but as the contour approaches the sea it gains in height: it is were the reception and services are hosted, as well as an escalating terrace. An equally escalating path interwined with an oblique concrete wall leads to the rocky seaside terrain and the necessary pier, while curvilinear or freeform paths connect the unit to the beach or the mountain. Con-tour: an accommodation project as an earthy turn, a tense, porous, dry wall, a welcoming concrete ‘tour’ that re-turns to the landscape itself. Not only as form but as a new model of ex-posed, frugal, primordial co-habitation.