Architecture

Hostel for birds and surfers imagined in Northumberland

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Graduate student Thomas Savage envisions a sustainable hostel to house both birds and water sports enthusiasts in Blyth (Image: Thomas Savage)
Technical section demonstrating how the birds could nest in the builidings (Image: Thomas Savage)
Site Plan diagram of the coastal site in Blyth, northeast England (Image: Thomas Savage)
Section diagram of the visitor center proposed for the shore bank (Image: Thomas Savage)
Graduate student Thomas Savage envisions a sustainable hostel to house both birds and water sports enthusiasts in Blyth (Image: Thomas Savage)
Sectional diagram of the 9-story hostel building (Image: Thomas Savage)
Plan diagrams detailing the nine floors (Image: Thomas Savage)
Diagram of usage for the proposed visitor centre (Image: Thomas Savage)
An exploded diagram of proposed summer use for watersports enthusiasts, creating campsite-type accommodation (Image: Thomas Savage)
An exploded view of one of the cabin rooms of the beach towers (Image: Thomas Savage)
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A student from Northumbria University has envisioned a sustainable hostel to house both birds and water sports enthusiasts in Blyth on the northeast coast of England. Positioned on dramatic sweeping beaches, a series of 9-story towers will provide protected nesting and bird watching areas in the winter, and transform into a communal campsite for water sports enthusiasts in the summer.

Graduate student Thomas Savage took inspiration from Spanish Architect Manuel Fonseca Gallego’s Ornithological Observatory for the architecture degree project submitted under tutor Sebastian Messer. In addition to our feathered friends, Savage imagines "roosts" for human bird watchers and surfers alike during their respective seasons. The concept aims to alternate use between the popular ornithological society and water sports community of the town through the course of the year.

The concept proposes to capitalize on the shift in activity and visitors between bird watching in winter and spring and water sports in summer and autumn. In the summer, the tall steel scaffolding and concrete cabins would be open and form a campsite-type residence with communal and storage areas. For the remainder of the year, the cabins would be boarded up to create protected nesting areas for the birds and viewing platforms for birdwatchers.

Sectional diagram of the 9-story hostel building (Image: Thomas Savage)

A second site in the scheme is a visitor center located inland on the shore banks. This too encourages bird habitation through tunnel-like openings in the roof and also provides viewing platforms for birdwatchers.

Blyth’s heavy industrial work has declined in recent decades, yet the port continues shipping paper and pulp for the newspaper industry. The community is keen to promote sustainable activities alongside the wind farms that are located offshore. The concept design by Thomas Savage, titled “In Praise Of Nests and Other Things” could be a conceivable alternative to typical tourism promotion schemes and provide a distinctive landmark feature for the town.

Savage’s design is a creative solution to the project brief: to produce a museum with hostel accommodation. Whilst it may ultimately remain unrealized, it is a thought-provoking conceptual idea that many practicing architects probably no longer have the opportunity to dream up in today’s busy world.

Source: Northumbria University via Dezeen

View gallery - 9 images
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1 comment
b@man
FAIL! Put the birds off to the side please, or on another platform:) ...for what must be, less than obvious reasons. Bird poop is slick;)