LEE YANG YANG + NICHOLAS PUTRASIA + RAYMOND WARNERIN

PROJECT: STAIRWAY OVER LABUAN BAJO PENINSULA
TYPE: COMPETITION
STATUS: UNBUILT
LOCATION: INDONESIA
YEAR: 2017

Labuan Bajo, the hilly landscape against the tropical seas. That azure water against the long narrow sandy lagoons. Sparse grass meadows rather than coconut trees, the rocky hills rises dramatically from the ocean like no other coasts in the tropics. A shanty fishermen village a boat trip away from the land of the mythical Komodo dragons. Our design sets out to encapsulate these very qualities of Labuan Bajo in the western end of Flores in the Nusa Tenggara.

Situated at the peak of the natural lookout point, a series of gradual paved steps continue the ascend of the hiking trail before the hill. At the end, the platform narrows to an overhanging end, presented with the best views of the Labuan Bajo peninsula – the curving lagoons, the rugged ridges towering above the blue seas. The barrier – also rising gradually from the steps is constructed of the vernacular atap roof of thatched dried reeds. As it happens the thatched roof conceals the platform and shelters the restaurant space right below. The kitchen and the toilet is built of local stones, half buried into the rocky cliff. Overhanging beneath the roof, the greyed out timber decking is the seating space that shares the same vista in a rather casual and relaxed setting.