3Gatti Architecture Studio has unveiled a vision for an eco-resort in a Latvian forest, featuring pavilions topped with inflatable roofs that look like pine cones.
The Shanghai- and Rome-based studio designed the Pinecones Resort for the Blue Country Spa competition, which asked for designs for a cost-effective and eco-friendly guesthouse and spa in Latvia's Kurzeme region.
The proposal didn't win, but the architects are now promoting their design as a new innovative and easy-to-construct building type.
The pine-cone-like design was conceived to reference both the pine trees of Latvian forests and the traditional steep roofs of rural Latvian houses.

The competition proposal was for 10 individual units that include a guesthouse, a spa, a relaxation room, a therapy room and a house for staff, as well as a winter tub and sauna. Local wood would make up the cone-shape of each of the structures, which would then be topped with the bulbous roofs inflated by a recyclable spray eco foam to improve the thermal insulation and the rigidity.
Glazed walls at the base of each circular volume would provide panoramic views of the surrounding forest.

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