Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio: The Eco-Floating Hotel is a project whose first leg is planned to take place in Qatar but it also has the potential to be located in different areas thanks to its characteristic mobile feature. As HAADS, our team has studied the project with various opinions and technical knowledge from many different disciplines and visions. In this sense, consultants from different fields such as ship construction engineers, ship architects played a big role in the project process.
This project, which started working on it in March 2020 and lasted 6 months, adopts the motto of minimum energy loss and zero waste as a principle according to the design approach it has put forward. Due to its characteristic moving feature it generates electrical energy by rotating around its position according to the water Current and provides users with different perspective experiences. Created as a 5 - Star Hotel, The Eco-Floating Hotel has a construction area of 35000 m² and a total of 152 rooms.
The eco-floating hotel is inspired by the sea with which it is associated in the first degree in terms of form and design principle. At this point, it is worth to mention that the project will work efficiently in areas where there is a continuous and certain Current. However, the sea which gives the structure physical and tangible power and receives the return it needs in a mutualistic form also directs the shape of the structure with the idea of the vortex. If it is accepted that the water formed and disappeared by itself forming a rotation around itself in a regular Current and the shape is considered to have risen with its borders and evolved into a platform, it will give a transparent mass silhouette. It was this image that fed and supported the project. The idea of the vortex, which reflects the rotational effect found on the surface of the water to the upper cover of the structure does not only remain in this layer and seeps into the mass with a capillary effect.
The project, which is planned to take inspiration from the formation of the vortex, revolves around itself within the framework of controls in order to ensure the said electrical energy efficiency and on the other hand, to provide its users with a permanent panorama of perspective. It completes the full tour in 24 hours. The DP system which is often used on ships will also be used in this project so that the rotation can be fixed and the platform position can be maintained. Dynamic positioning (DP) is a computer-controlled system set out to automatically maintain a ship's position and direction using its own propellers and thrusters. The Floating Hotel which has 3 different entrances aims to provide access from land at any time of the day thanks to the 140-degree pier that surrounds itself.
image © Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio
In a project aimed at maximum benefit to ecological balance, the element used in terms of green energy production is called vawtau (vertical axis wind turbine and umbrella) which works as a wind turbine on the vertical axis and it has a function as a sun umbrella on the coastal band. 25 kW of electrical energy can be obtained from each of the 55 vawtau modules. Vawtau uses wind Current caused by temperature difference in sea and land as its working principle.
Another point considered in terms of energy production is the effective use of green areas and rainwater. In this sense, it is aimed to work in a way that is appropriate to the design identity and effectively when processing the project landscape. The hotel's top cover inspired by the vortex also performs the function of collecting rainwater in its form. The water that will be obtained from here can be used as gray water by treatment and its main purpose is to maintain the water balance of green areas.
The project which aims to minimize intervention in the ecological balance by determined means aims not to use fossil fuels at any stage by methods such as rainwater accumulation, vawtau modules, rotational movement it performs around itself.
Just as the water necessity required by the hotel can be met with gray water the water needed will be obtained by purification from the sea. It will also treat the waste water it will produce and thus will not harm the environment. In terms of other wastes occurring it is aimed to develop waste separation units in order to maintain efficiency and to use them as fertilizer in the landscape for the recycling of substances such as food waste.
image © Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio
Access to the floating hotel takes 3 different forms. The first of these access routes will be through a 140-degree floating pier, the other will be through boats that will provide access from the sea to the hotel, and finally by helicopter and drone to the helipad located on the floating pier using the airway.
The hotel which has a 700 m2 lobby in the center, also feels the atmosphere of the moving mass inside the space thanks to the transparent vertical surfaces it reveals. Each of the rooms will have its own balcony which aims to offer users different perspectives. However, it has indoor and outdoor swimming pools, sauna, spa, gym, mini golf course and many similar activity areas.
All of the hotel's platforms, including its connection to the mainland are floating platforms. Due to the fact that it will be rented periodically it can be moved to the desired area after obtaining the Current it needs, and it will not need any other requirements. However, the concept works of the project have been completed and approved. Feasibility and technical studies are continuing in order to realize the implementation phase. Although there is no exact date for the completion of these works, the completion date of the structure is aimed at 2025.
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