Biological Architecture

This project was inspired by the sacred tree "Ora" from the family of Banyan Trees in French Polynesia. The Ora tree is a vast habitable tree that animals find sanctuary in.  The tree is a fig that lives on a host tree or a structure like building or surface, the seeds incubate and send down roots toward the ground and as time goes by they become structural. As they get older the roots would be indistinguishable from the trunk of the tree.

The Sanctuary structure is located on the edge of a cliff on the island of Huahine in French Polynesia. The structure is a place for people to go and reconnect with nature and like animals, find sanctuary in. There are no existing trails to the structure, therefor people would have to hike to the cliff, and find their own trails to the Sanctuary. When in the structure, one will experience a cave like space with a tropical rain-forest divided into four main layers, each with different plants and animals adapted for life in that particular area. In order to maneuver from one level to the other, one needs to climb the branches and ladders which are hanging from the interior walls of the Sanctuary. These branches which also work as structure for the interior of the Sanctuary holding the floor planes intact with the exterior are for people to experience nature while in the structure.
The structure is made from individual prefabricated modular which captures rain water and feeds it from the opening on the top of each level to the plants and mosses and the extra water is released from the bottom of the structure into the forest.