!

Florida based Oppenheim Architecture + Design (OAD) has recently won an ambitious competition for a hotel in the Jordanian region of Wadi Rum. Due for completion in 2014, the concept suggests inserting 47 desert lodges into the red sandstone cliffs… I repeat, into the cliffs. 

Located an hour and a half outside the historical city of Petra – also carved into a rockface - the Wadi Rum Resort is designed to take full advantage of its natural surroundings. Numerous sustainable measures have been fed into the design concept, such as the reharvesting of grey/black water thtorough a living machine of botanical nature, and various water conservation systems for both human and site irrigation.

Chad Oppenheim, founder of OAD explains: “We have trained and heightened our senses to see, smell, taste, hear, and touch the mystical beauty of Wadi Rum. We tapped the inherent power of the desert through primal and instinctual design moves, informed by the forces, rhythms and patterns of nature - past, present, and future.”
- via World Architecture News