By Liz Stinson for Curbed
From above, the Kudadoo Maldives Private Resort looks like a shiny black beetle floating in a tranquil aquamarine sea. Located off one of the Maldives’ tiny tropical islands, the luxury resort’s main building has a roof built from solar panels arranged into a stepped pattern.
New York City architecture firm Yuji Yamazaki Architecture (YYA) designed the $3,000-plus a night resort as a luxury eco-friendly getaway where the building can sustain itself. On one side of the island an arc of ocean bungalows wraps around the shore. On the other is the main building whose photovoltaic roof generates enough energy to power the entire resort.
YAA wanted to celebrate the technology—instead of masking the solar panels they put them front and center as a design feature that helps visitors understand how the resort is powered. “At a glance, visitors can assess the size of solar roof, and then comprehend the relationship to the scale of the resort served by it,” the architects explain.
