You can explore the beauty of Chile’s Atacama Desert through eco-friendly domes

The latest Piedras Bayas Beachcamp introduced by MOREAS is an architectural beauty with both its ultra-creative structure and its eco-friendly design. Located in the Atacama Desert, North of Chile, the cabin covers an area of 7534.74 square feet and serves as a prime spot for tourists to stay! Surrounded by the natural life of the desert, the structure takes complete advantage of light structures, uses local materials, has a non-contaminant sanitary system and includes ample amount of green-facilities to aid to the conservation of the environment.

The arid Atacama Desert is a comparatively dry zone which sees a very low amount of rain per year. The coastal zone remains at a very high temperate all year round and is rich in archeology and geology. The major attraction of the Piedras Bayas Beachcamp is the limited intervention of human life which provides optimal privacy and serenity by allowing the visitors to intake all the natural beauty that surrounds them.

The complete structure consists of a service station and three separate bedrooms. Inside the service station, two bathrooms, one office, one community room, a room for the ranger and a family room has been built in. Each of these rooms, feature a separate bathroom and is essentially a wood platform with a dome. The entire process of building these cabins involved three stages along with three carpenters, two local artisans, and one on-site architect. Each of these domes is built well separated (a distance of 50 meters) from the other so as to maintain visitors’ privacy and to allow maximum viewing of the surrounding natural landscapes.

A skeleton was first formed using the local materials and the rest of the structure was built through it. Instead of forming a large building which would occupy a bigger volume, multiple smaller buildings were made which were then all interconnected through exterior pathways.

The basic structure was built out of wooden pillars, each of which were buried one meter into the sand. The sea water was used to conjugate the pillars and create a stable foundation which helped omit the use of cement. Local materials that were mainly used during the construction were “Brea” and “Tortora”, both of which are native to a small village that is 40 minutes away from the site.

A local bush was used which can easily grow in the wetlands around the area and validate for the use of the material for construction purposes. The Brea material being the top best with its ability to protect the building from harsh sunlight.

Currently a mandatory of at least 2 nights stay can be booked at the Piedras Bayas Beachcamp for USD 120 where the guests are offered kayaks, electricity and hot water all day long.

Functionally, such structures can prove to be beneficial as they can easily be rebuilt or removed without compromising on the aesthetic values of the surrounding natural landscape.

All Images: © Alejandro Gálvez, Cristina Ananias, Eduardo Montesinos via Arch Daily

Project: Piedras Bayas BeachCamp

Architects: MORAES

h/t: Arch Daily