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HARBOUR & MARINA VILLAGE, AMBERGRIS CAY,
TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS
Situated in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, the project at Ambergris Cay is focused around the site of a low-lying marsh on the northern side of the island. The project brief asks for a new marina basin and village spanning approximately 55 acres of landmass and accommodating 200 residential units. Additionally, the program calls for a yacht club and commercial promenade in the village, a separate 11-acre private peninsula, and a retail component. In the preliminary design process, we have looked at precedents such as Hydra and Spetses in Greece to elaborate a scheme with a significant Mediterranean character.
The project’s general concept is to create an island out of reclaimed land by excavating to a depth of 15 ft from the area that will become the marina proper and its channel. The creation of the island has a dual purpose in that it makes a larger harbour for the manoeuvring of substantially sized yachts and shipping barges and a more intimate harbour linked directly with the village at the heart of the project. On the south-western edge of the harbour, further reclaimed land is used to create an eyelet for a separate commercial loading area that sits within a small bay created by the additional formation of land into an 11-acre peninsula. The peninsula itself is edged by a 25-ft plateau on its northern side, thus providing privacy from the shipping activity opposite it. A further littoral harbour is created by adding a finger of land on the scheme’s eastern edge along the proposed flushing channel. This formation of a large marina with several smaller, more intimate harbours allows for various boat types. It uses and establishes a hierarchy of mooring spaces that fosters a natural connection between the berths and the land’s shape. The entire marina can berth 160 boats between 45 and 65 ft long, and 15 large yachts at 200 ft in length.
At the heart of the scheme lies the island village with its principle of organization based on traditional Mediterranean villages of double-loaded, narrow, long blocks with differentiation of levels within. The topography is designed to create a spine that rises from 13 ft to 45 ft where it culminates in a raised fortress. The staggered siting of the houses in the village, combined with the advantage of heights introduced through the shaping of the topography ensures that each house has a view of the water and catches maximum breezes as the wind moves easterly over the island. Also integral to the village’s design is the idea of a zero lot line development, whereby the houses are sited directly on the street. It is this siting of the houses and the use of perimeter walls that create well-defined streets and shapes lively, meaningful public spaces within the village.