Water, Water, Everywhere
I like crazy concepts. I like architecture. But, I just don’t know if I can get behind this plan from Morris Architects to turn old oil rigs into luxury hotels.
They apparently think they can turn the Gulf of Mexico into some sort of (sparsely populated) Dubai? Good luck with that. Dubai seems to be doing pretty well (read: it’s not doing well at all). Also…the plans they’ve come up with seem really uninspired to me. The rooms and main areas look quite boring and uninspired. There doesn’t appear to be much to do at this resort aside from sail on a yacht and sit around being rich. I mean, people are just doing much cooler things with oil rigs these days. But then again, perhaps anything looks boring when it doesn’t have a roller coaster attached to it. The idea incorporates pre-fabricated rooms that can be shipped via cargo container before becoming…more than meets the eye (seen below)?
The story has been popping up all over the Internet, but I’ve chosen to link to the BLDBLOG coverage because of this gem:
Of course, if the real Dubai is any model for what might actually happen with such a resort, then we’ll probably see dozens of oil rigs partially converted to luxury hotels only then to be abandoned by their construction crews and investors. As the lands of southern Louisiana continue to disappear into the Gulf, heavily armed refugees on fishing boats will move out to sea, recolonizing the derelict structures. There will be campfires at night, burning driftwood, and specialty gardens.
Within four or five decades of inconsistent contact, the Library of Congress sends out a new, 21st century Alan Lomax to visit those thriving offshore subcultures and record their folk songs and oral histories.
Sorry that just took the cake. Hats off to BLDBLOG for that. If Morris Architects really wants to excite me about their concept (because I’m sure that’s what they’re really worried about) they can do so in eight words: water slide to the gulf from the roof. Make it happen Morris.
