FIJI HAVEN

SPF:a won a two-stage competition this spring to design apartment towers, office tower, and a medical complex as part of a 29-acre development in Nausori, Fiji. The development, entitled The Haven, will also include a hotel-retail complex designed by Australian firm, Lab Architecture.

SPF:a’s concept emulates the Fijian practice of utilizing nature and materials throughout the culture. The design co-exists with, rather than fights the intensive tropical environment of the islands. SPF:a’s proposal clads the buildings in skins of pumice that welcome the growth of moss, bromeliads and other plants because they are properly located and ventilated. Tall slender buildings can face west because of generous overhangs and a natural skin that diffuses light. Two apartment towers feature the natural skin as a cascading series of terra cotta pipe planters. The vegetation dangles from the top of the structures, providing simultaneously a water-conserving drainage plan and a spectacular filter for direct tropical sunlight. While not a part of the final design, SPF:a conceived of a hotel and office tower involving a series of vertical open spaces that allow natural light and ventilation to pass through open-air porches.

The vertical “lounges” provide wonderful outdoor refuges, where one can take in a breeze and magnificent view, or enjoy the air of an afternoon rain while sheltered from the moisture. Diffused light enters guestrooms and creates a thinness and transparency that permeates the building. The office tower is clad with a double-skin whose inner layer is mostly glazing and fiber cement panel, and the outer layer a twisted and ribbon-like shield mimicking traditional Fijian weaving patterns, or the natural vinelike patterning of the local Banyan trees.

The outer layer diffuses sun through public gathering spaces, where it becomes a horizontal trellis for the Porte Cochere and retail amenities.

Through its proposal SPF:a ultimately sought to harness the region’s natural beauty, embracing the notion that buildings in Fiji get wet and stain, architecturally welcoming the cyclones the breezes and the sun. The richness of the design is found in addressing the richness of the very context of the project.

While the apartment towers are moving forward as designed, SPF:a will re-envision the office tower to address its new placement on the site relative to other buildings, and will design an additional wellness center facility to serve both residents and hotel guests. Design development will begin immediately, with hopes of beginning construction sometime in 2009.