Bay Tranquility

Last crawled date: 5 years ago

This shelter is built into the side of a karst in Ha Long Bay, with large windows on each side looking out across the rock face and over the ocean, designed specifically to frame both the sunrise and sunset, and reinforce the connection between land, water and sky. Since the region is subject to tropical storms, it has been situated in one of the few protected basins in the bay, and raised about the waterline to avoid rough seas. The form and materials of the shelter have been designed to resemble the traditional fishing boats found in the bay, with their sweeping orange sails and black-painted timber hulls. Internally the space is reconfigurable, with bifold panels in the floor revealing a sunken reading area when open, and creating a flexible space for contemplation when closed. At night, a bed folds down from the wall behind the reading area, carefully detailed to fit reciprocally into the fixed interior components, and revealing the rock of the karst internally. Between the flexible area and the formal working area, there is a full height fixed glass panel that extends into both the ceiling and floor planes, so that the natural environment can be experienced from water below to sky above. This implied boundary between the two spaces is continued in the floor plane through an inset piece of traditional weaving from the hill-tribe area of North Vietnam, to acknowledge the importance of the culture of the region as well as its natural beauty. #Ha_Long_Bay #shelter #Vietnam #water