This futuristic eco-resort in Palawan has shell-shaped hotels and rotating apartments

A sustainable future was at the top of Vince Callebaut’s mind when he designed Nautilus, a 27,000-square-meter futuristic eco-resort for Palawan. This beautiful, self-sustaining village includes rotating apartment towers, shell-shaped hotels, and research centers to show how resilient tourism can allow both locals and tourists to “discover the world without destroying it.”

The shell-shaped hotels and rotating apartments wind up along two golden spirals respecting the Fibonacci sequence, which is a perfect symbol for balance and harmony. Facades and roofs within Nautilus would sport solar panels, producing more energy than it needs in addition to the underwater turbines that capture wave energy. Rainwater and greywater shall be reused, while human waste would be transformed into an energy source.

The Nautilus Eco-Resort is based on biomimicry, an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges inspired by the shapes, structures, and intelligence of materials that exist in living beings and endemic ecosystems.

“The Philippines, a country in crisis facing environmental degradation”

According to Callebaut, despite being a true sanctuary of marine biodiversity, the Philippines is still overridden by massive pollution of plastic and toxic waste and climate change.

At the heart of the resort is the Origami Mountain, a scientific research center, and nautical recreational area. It will be constructed using a cross-laminated timber framework that would be layered to create a number of undulating ramps that fold out like a massive origami structure.

“A pioneering eco-resort for eco-responsible, ethical, and united tourists”

Nautilus plans on minimizing its ecological footprint and centers on the preservation of nature and local urban ecology while respecting ecosystems and agroecosystems. The complex also champions a “zero-emission, zero-waste, and zero-poverty” mindset, promising that the project will be 100 percent built from reused and recycled materials from the archipelago.

The eco-resort is purely a concept at present but it makes us look forward to a better and brighter future. Callebaut’s collaborative concept indeed focused on using real-world education to spread the idea of responsible ecotourism, or in his words, “a voluntary approach reimbursing ecological debt.”

What do you think about Nautilus?

Photos courtesy of Vince Callebaut Architectures