Studio PAULBAUT Paul Kweton, AIA

CV, CONTACT,

@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title
@title

Birdwatching Hotel - Costa Rica & Alaska (Morris Architects)

2008

Award

2008 Honorable Mention, International Radical Innovation Competition

Birding

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007, birding is a hobby for 47.8 M Americans - and that number is growing. Birding is appreciated by every culture and ethnicity around the world, can be shared across generations, and can be enjoyed throughout the course of one's entire life. Up until now, hospitality offerings for birders tended to be ad hoc - the local motel, a camping lodge; convenience or adjacency was the prime criteria. We, however, propose to integrate luxe hospitality into the birding experience, creating a methodology that can be adapted for implementation at site around the globe. The Birdwatching Hotel - Costa Rica is intended for a site similar to the Tarcoles River delta on the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The area on the edge of the Carara National Park, is an observation point for the dawn and dusk migration of a population of 450 pairs of Scarlet macaws. The overhead spectacle of red is the daily migration ritual of the large birds moving between the mangrove swamps and the daylight sanctuary of the raincoast canopy. Viewers from all over the world come to witness this event and hike thru one of the most robust and diverse eco-systems on the planet. The Birdwatching Hotel - Alaska is intended to be situated in a location similar to the Stikine or Copper River deltas. The Alaskan coastal springs are mild and the shoreline are abloom with wildflowers and a massive shore bird migration takes place that is the largest in the western hemisphere. Over 5 million birds, including a massing of hundreds of bald eagles, arrives annually at the Stikine delta. The Copper River basin is host of over twelve millon birds during the same migration period.

Program

200 hotel rooms, dining, cooking facility, indoor/outdoor spa, fitness center, research and conference center, lounge, fireplace, cafe, outdoor theater, retail