Desert Dunes

A building in the desert. Moving dunes. Sand storms. Very arid. Very hot. A place to work, a think tank. A place for meditation, culture… and also a religious place. Such building should allow a permanent or a temporary use, and it should not need maintenance. The displayed project is a hole. Why? Because the most appropriate building in a desert is the one that always leaves a place to breathe, no matter how much the dunes grow, or move.

From here, we can state that the dimension of the building is directly related to the dune’s maximum height. Also, we can presume that it will not be possible to place one only door, due to the movement of the sand. The dunes go up and down, up and down, up… and down. The suggested façade is therefore a wall made of doors. 192 doors placed in a spiral, to always ensure an entrance. 192, because our building is 35 meters high, in answer to the 30 meters that the dunes can reach in this particular place.

The façade contains not only doors but also 120 bedrooms. These rooms make the patio elevation, creating a positive and a negative volume. A spiral ramp descends to the garden, where water can be found. On the lowest level, always underground, we find the communion space. This space is circular for two reasons. In the first place, due to the light that comes from the center and is expanded to the infinite. There is a structural cause too. This geometrical form, with the slab and columns inclination, is able to transfer the weight of the sand into the earth.

The patio is an oasis. A green space, full of water and air, fresh air. The whole building is made of concrete, and this concrete contains the desert’s gravel.