Camilo Moraes has won the Small Project of the Year 2018 at this year's World Architecture Festival with Piedras Bayas Beachcamp in the Atacama Desert, Chile. 

The sustainable and itinerant tourism station is located in the untouched landscape of the coastal area of in northern Chile. WAF's Judges commended the architects, stating that "interesting project made the most of using local techniques and materials and creates a world that is conducive to the environment, whilst also forming a strong architectural definition."

Piedras Bayas Beachcamp is an itinerating and sustainable tourism station located in the virgin landscape of the coastal zone of Atacama desert, in northern Chile.

"It's strategy of light structures, integration of local materials, non-contaminant sanitary systems and green-powered facilities is an architectural example of low impact construction for non-intervened natural landscapes," said Camilo Moraes.

The Atacama Desert is located within the "South America arid diagonal". It is a dry zone and almost never rains. The coast zone has a temperate climate all year. It has a high geological & archaeological content. A place with immense natural landscapes that are stilllimitedly affected by human action and has no urban planning.

In order to maintain privacy, each dome room were separated 50 meters away from each other. This also allows more visible presence of the landscape. Instead of building large volumes, the decision was to build several small buildings, connected through exteriorpaths.

Camilo Moraes' strategy was to have a wood structure as the skeleton with skin made out of local materials. The structural basis was made from wooden pillars simply buriedone meter in the sand compactd with salt water. For the foundations we did not use any cement at all.

Moraes used local materials for this project - they were called "Brea" and "Totora". It inspired by a small village located 40 minutes from the site. A type of local bush that grows in the zone's wetlands that was used for decades and it is possible to see how this material is keptin good condition over the years. 

"The Brea works as a perfect material to isolate the building of the sun. The material Brea isused outside as a cladding in a frame type structure," added Moraes.

World Architecture Festival was held at RAI Amsterdam between 28-30, 2018 this year. World Architecture Community is Media Partner for World Architecture Festival and has following up the most fresh news, jury crits, awards and hotly-anticipated sessions on the spot during the event. You can read more detailed coverage about the event on WAC. 

All images © Alejandro Galvez & Cristina Ananias 

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