The aim of this project is to build a platform which would provide all the facilities required for the people interested in the field of research on nature. By this project, people may aware & may know about coral asset in our country. The proposed “coral conservation research and recreational center” is proposed to be constructed in west site of Saint Martin island.  The project would provide research facilities & recreational facilities to save the coral of saint martin which is now in peril.

Saint Martin, the one and only coral island of Bangladesh where coral communities extend to about 200m offshore of st. martin’s island with maximum coral cover of 7.6% and colony density of 1.3m-2m. The island has 66 hard coral species. the most common are porites, acropora, favites, goniopora, cyphastrea and goniastrea. There are some unique coral reef species which are only available on Saint Martin within this sub-continent. Reefs are home to a variety of animals, including fish, seabirds, sponges, cnidarians, worms, crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, sea squirts, sea turtles and sea snakes.

But day by day coral is being damaged for uncontrolled fishing and tourism. the government declared the island as Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) in 1999, but did not take any major initiative under the declaration. It’s the time to protect & preserve the ecosystems of coral reefs of Saint Martin. This project location is on the west side of Saint Martin which is also in the new proposed master plan for Saint Martin by Cox’s bazar development authority.

There are mainly two functional areas of the project: Research lab and Museum. Creating a space, where researchers & general people meet in a common platform to protect the coral reef. Which will be a ’floating structure on the ground’. as the site is so close to sea and home of many marine habitats such as green turtles and crabs, I want to create a floating structure where men will move on the upper part and the lower part will be free for marine habitats. It will work as a live museum for tourist.

Concept comes from coral formation. The form of the structures inspired from shape of coral unit which is hexagon.  Each hexagon unit joins with two or more and creates an ultimate organic form which runs with the topography. Saint Martin is an island where wind direction changed 3 times of a year. so organic form is the only solution to deal with this situation.

The initial concept of my design was to utilize the site forces, such as plantations, topography, adjacent sea. So, at the beginning of the design I tried to identify zoning of the program on the basis of topographical drawing, plantation pattern and air flow diagrams. when I start the master planning of the project with zoning, I start thinking about a focus point which would guide the circulations throughout the landscape. to generate such a linear space which flows forward to the sea and try to create relation between academic activity & the existing water body.