Extrastudio: Tavira Island Regeneration
Extrastudio, in collaboration with landscape architects Oficina dos Jardins, has won the competition for Tavira’s Island Regeneration, in Algarve, the southern coast of Portugal.
Ranked by Lonely Planet as one of the World’s 10 best beaches to travel with children, along with Bali, Hawaii and Sardinia, Tavira’s island is an 11km long spectacular, secluded and unspoiled beach, part of Ria Formosa’s natural park, an idyllic system of islands and marshlands. Together with the regeneration of the small urban settlement, the project addresses the preservation and regeneration of the local natural conditions, integrating human activities into a sustainable system.
Exrastudio will work with sustainability consultants Wee-Solutions in the development of an energy consumption management strategy, waste and water treatment, and in a self-sustained, renewable energy solution. The project will include the refurbishment of all the public buildings on the island, a camping site, a new public plaza and new paths, linking the harbour to the beach. Under a low-tech strategy unique design features will include the re-use of traditional reixa structures, an Arab influenced wood screen, found only in Tavira and materials like white sand-beach concrete and custom made sand-cast furniture. Construction is scheduled to start in Autumn 2011.
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