Themes of permanence, temporality, and the vernacular use of materials as a response to the local climate informed through the reading of the book ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundati Roy is used to design a tourist resort in the Maldives. The urgency of the climate crisis and the country’s vulnerability in the face of sea level rise is highlighted through the scheme by introducing a new form of tourism that allows for a participatory experience for the tourists. The scheme highlights the issues at hand through the design adapted to the rising sea levels instead of hiding the reality of the country from visitors that most tourist resorts do in order to portray an image of it being “paradise on earth”, a statement which is far from the truth. The site is designed to invite the water to inhabit the sacrificial spaces, serving as an educational tool to highlight the susceptibility of the country being submerged under water in the near future. The polemic nature of the scheme poses an important question about the current approach of the country to the issues and creates a wider conversation about the survival of an island nation in the fight against climate change.
A conceptual approach to the climate crisis that withstands and adapts to the changes wrought by sea level rise, whilst preserving the cultural identity of the Maldives.