Cast Away - Report

People have very busy lives and everyone needs a break sometimes. The place we designed is located in very pure and quiet nature and it is a great place to get away from the hectic daily life. This place aims to increase the wellbeing of people and it is designed while thinking about different aspects of wellbeing such as physical, intellectual and social wellbeing. All of these aspects led us to design a wellness centre with multifunctional spaces in it where people can enhance their wellbeing status in various ways. This centre is divided into four pieces according to their functions and it can be seen that there is a transition from public to private between these functions. Four pieces that have different functions are connected with a glass corridor. Glass material is chosen because it allows more sunlight and it is possible to see surrounding areas while passing by. The public places contain an eating area, yoga space and an outdoor pool so that people can spend time together and develop the physical and social aspects of their wellbeing in these places. On the opposite side of these areas, more silent reading and sitting areas are available and next to that place a courtyard can be found and these areas can be thought of as semi-public areas. The more quiet areas are designed in order to have places where people can spend some time alone. After the public and semi-public places, there is a spa area that contains some massage rooms, saunas and resting areas. This place is great for relaxing and it might be considered that people can again increase their physical wellbeing. The last part of the centre has accommodation units and it is the most private part of the centre. With all these various functions in the centre and being in beautiful nature, people can spend some time for themselves and it will increase their wellbeing. Apart from the wellbeing part of our design, there are some decisions that are taken while considering the building site. The site is surrounded by mountains and it creates great vista points. Accommodation units, a yoga area and an outdoor pool are located according to these vista points so there are good views from these places. Another consideration was about materials. After our research about the site, we found out that wood is a local material and is commonly used in that area. Because of that and in order to design more ecologically, we decided to use wood as a building material. Also, the site has long days with the sun so it was useful to benefit from the sunlight to generate energy for the centre. To sum up, both different aspects of well-being such as physical, social and intellectual wellbeing and ecological design with local materials and the use of natural energy sources like the sun was the main concept of our design.