STONE STAGE & STAY

Carvings and Aggregates, New Prototypes for Cappadocia's Rock Architecture

Academic Design Project

Cappadocia, Turkey

Sept-Dec 2022

Team Project | Co-Designer

Teammate | Xinru Tan

Professor | Ferda Kolatan

TA | Caleb Ehly

ZBrush Modeling - Project

In the enigmatic region of Cappadocia, Turkey, lies an abandoned stone quarry, long forgotten and left to nature's whims. The quarry's walls, once scarred by illegal mining, now bear witness to the passage of time, as bits of earth and stone peel off to form an intricate layer of organic shapes and patterns.

The quarry's textured facade acts as a canvas upon which we has imbued a symphony of contrasts, combining the raw, rugged quality of the mountain with the clean, polished lines of concrete.

As one approaches the hotel, a sense of anticipation builds, as the concrete frame walkway reveals the amphitheater's secrets. The walkway's design mirrors the quarry's texture, creating a harmonious blend of artifice and nature. The amphitheater, designed to blend seamlessly with the quarry's facade, speaks of an aesthetic that celebrates the organic and the manmade. Its construction, utilizing concrete and the remnants of the quarry's machinery, evokes a sense of timelessness, a nod to the ancient origins of the region.

The hotel's design speaks of an ethos that embraces the past while remaining firmly rooted in the present. It is a testament to the power of design to transcend time and space, to create something truly unique and inspiring.

The hotel’s interior, an oasis of tranquility and luxury, reflects the same design principles, as the spaces transition seamlessly from the interior to the exterior, blurring the boundaries between them.

The hotel project represents a harmony of opposites, a dance between the natural and the artificial, a poetic interplay of positive and negative space.