DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
buildings developed organically over time now stand wall-to-wall, severely limiting natural light and ventilation to interior spaces.
Natural light became the primary driver for the design. This focus shaped an internal courtyard with a large glass roof that draws in daylight to brighten the hostel’ s central space. Due to the site’ s narrow street frontage in this dense urban setting, the design naturally shifts inward, positioning the courtyard as the project’ s main public area. Conceived as an internal alley, this courtyard draws visitors deeper into the building, connecting the street entry to the hostel’ s core. The wooden facade extends seamlessly from the street front into the interior space, flowing inward and rising up to clad the courtyard walls— transforming these internal surfaces into a secondary facade that continues the exterior’ s design approach.
This approach led to a unified facade treatment that works for both the street front and courtyard walls. The W-shaped profile catches natural light, giving the wooden surface visual depth. This facade element runs as a continuous extrusion from exterior to interior, pulling the building’ s character from street to courtyard and creating visual continuity throughout.
For the making process, the team had to find an approach that works with regional construction capabilities. While using advanced computational design tools for development, the designers recognized that the local industry operates primarily through wet construction systems and onsite casting, rather than prefabricated elements. The team created a strategy that taps into these skills by developing simplified procedures using basic molds and standard hand tools. The wooden facade components are formed through hot air heating and bending over predetermined molds with clear instructions, allowing skilled local craftspeople to handle the complex geometries using their existing expertise.
The project uses two types of wood based on where they’ re needed. Reclaimed timber from an old warehouse that was part of the site was refinished for the internal courtyard facade and corridor ceilings.
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