Repose | VALE DES MOSES SLEEPING PODS

ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION SUBMISSION | IN COLLABORATION WITH NALIN CHAHAL AND ANTHONY VESPRINI

ABSTRACT

This proposal originated from a desire to nurture a space designed to practice yoga while diluting the concept of private and public space. We aspired to build self-sustaining sleeping pods that are versatile on varying terrain, interacted with each other to produce a sense of community, and fostered an atmosphere that is biophilic and conducive to practicing yoga.

There are two main moments of the sleeping pod: the semi-private and private moment. The semi-private moment consists of a wood shading system that creates a boundary from the exterior conditions of the site while also providing a terrace space for inhabitants to practice yoga. The private moment of the proposal is the pod, which is divided by cork brick walls to create a breathable space that is also conducive to practicing yoga.

The material selection for the sleeping pod is composed of primarily different Portuguese woods. We utilized prefabricated cork bricks to build the main exterior walls, allowing the walls to have a breathable quality, and Portuguese Oak to construct the shading systems (with Japanese joinery) and other exterior or interior walls. The interior floor of the pod is layered with Porcelain tiling, inspired by the traditional Portuguese tiling. The use of native Portuguese materials both promotes vernacular cultural architecture and helps reduce our proposal’s embodied carbon cost. The pods would be powered by solar energy and would collect water from natural processes to supply themselves.

To generate our proposal’s design, we initially began with simplifying the six main poses of the Surya Namaskar into abstracted geometric figures. We then overlaid these geometric figures on a hex grid to create the shape of our pods. The hex grid inside the shape we conceived turns into structural beams while the hex grid on the outside of the shape turns into a shading system.

DIAGRAMS