Lanterns Sea Village - Temporary Housing for Surfers in Tarifa

Lanterns Sea Village is the attempt to transform a vision into architecture: light tetrahedral solids that hover over the sea, suspended in one point. This vision is not born of a whim, but of a necessity: the need to minimize the impact on a beautiful landscape such as Tarifa, providing temporary housing for surfers who inhabit the waters. The aggregation of 100 tetrahedra extends linearly on the sea for the most part, rotating their disposal in the form of semi-square on the beach, to promote community life of the surfers. The tetrahedrons are designed for be made of bamboo, with main and secondary structures dominated by triangular geometry, the most rigid ever; tetrahedra are grouped by threes, realizing their balance thanks the mutual connections by the joints on the top of them. Furthermore, the modularity allows to expand the village in case of need, or to disassemble and recycle all materials used, without leaving any trace in the landscape: the project is reversible from a landscape point of view. Bamboo is a highly sustainable plant, durable and perfect for a project like this. The floors are made of recycled wood and the sunshades are made of recycling old surfboards, cutted and glued together. The foundations are reduced to the minimum possible, with deep foundations made of piles that go down deeply on the sandy bottom or in the beach sand. Life in the Sea Lanterns Village is organized on two levels: at the level at the bottom, at 4 meters above sea level, are placed walkways and stairs for access to residences; at the highest level are placed the residences, with an area of about 30 square meters, where there are a kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom located above the staircase. To make the residences energetically independent it's possible to exploit the driving force of the sea, by installing mini-turbines, or taking advantage of the large surface area of the roof to install a mini-windmill, or with amorphous photovoltaic/solar panels.