Soneva Kiri ecochic at UK royal palace

Prototype villa to be built with local material  at Prince Charles London home

Soneva Kiri by Six Senses, an organisation that specialises in sustainable resorts worldwide, is proud to announce a collaboration with the 2011 Earth Awards’ as part of HRH Prince of Wales’ Start initiative. 

The Start event is being held in the gardens of Clarence House, London from 27-31st July 2011.  A prototype of a Six Senses Eco Villa is one of the 5 unique installations at the festival. All 5 designs address the most pressing challenges the world faces today due to climate change, with immediately implementable ideas. 

The original Eco Villa was designed by one of Six Senses’ architects Louis Thompson. It is a prototype zero carbon emissions structure, showcasing a range of experimental environmental technologies incorporated into a bio-climatically designed villa made from locally sourced building materials.

The Eco Villa is being recreated at Start using materials indigenous to the UK, mainly sourced from the grounds of Lydney Park Estate in Gloucestershire, in order to demonstrate that the design is workable, regardless of location.  Erected by a team of local craftsmen, the villa illustrates that it is possible to provide the same levels of service and comfort as found in more traditional five star luxury hotel accommodation, using modern building techniques and state of the art, renewable energy technology, combined with indigenous skills and knowledge.

The construction, landscaping and operation are all based on perma-culture design principals to ensure that waste is minimized or reused.  The frame, creating the main structure, will be built out of chestnut poles. The walls will be straw bales and rendered with local clay, mud and lime mortar.  The roof will be a garden of indigenous plants and the floor will be made out of local timber.  

Sonu Shivdasani, Chairman and CEO of Six Senses Resorts & Spas said, ‘It’s an honour to have the Eco Villa selected for such a prestigious event. The Eco Villa is a naturally attractive design and to see it recreated in beautiful British surroundings, really shows how adaptable and versatile both the design and concept are. At Six Senses we constantly strive to develop pioneering designs, ones that can play a part in changing the world for the better in future years to come.’ 

The replica villa will then be relocated to Lydney Park Estate after the festival available for the public to see and where it will become home to permanent centre of learning about sustainable practices.

Six Senses has 15 resorts in Thailand, Vietnam, the Maldives, Oman and Jordan. Each is operated and run following Six Senses core principal of SLOW LIFE – sustainable, local, organic, wholesome, learning, inspiring, fun, experiences. The basic premise being that luxury and sustainability can be and is, a happy marriage.

Valere Tjolle: Valere is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2011 Special Offers HERE