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Lava Mesh: A remarkable design detail at the Retreat
"A remarkable design detail at the Retreat"
The speckled black screen lining the windows of the Retreat embodies the organic interplay of high technology and pure nature prevalent throughout the Retreat’s interior and experiential design.
To create this latticework, a cross-section from a lava rock was digitized, providing the template for air and material—a tapestry giving rise to inspiring possibilities for the trajectories of sunbeams.
The punctured shapes are not randomized approximations of the interior matrices of a once-molten moment. They are the actual eruptive imprint of a geologic event from 800 years ago—reimagined, reconfigured, and reborn as the pattern for a play of brilliant light.
Exterior view of the Retreat Spa
Each hole represents a place in the volcanic rock where oxygen was locked in time. For centuries. Now those dormant spaces spring to life as the sun pierces the material, conjuring luminous dotted vistas on the walls of the Retreat, creating the convergence of geologic time and timeless sophistication.
And when the light is just right, the sun's rays simultaneously bounce off the surface of the lagoon, pouring up through the volcanic matrix and manifesting as a rippling canvas on the ceiling—a lightscape born of the volcanic earth.