Artsen Huzhou Hotel (China): a building hidden in the surrounding nature
Tianjin TIANHUA Northern Architectural Design
Hospitality
/
Future
Located at a Y-shaped valley of Miaoxi Town, Huzhou, China, ACSEN Huzhou Hotel enjoys a beautiful local landscapes and bamboo forest. Due to the gentle slope in the site, the scenic area is suitable for construction. The owner requests 12000 square meters of guest rooms and 7000 square meters of bed-and-breakfast villas. For this kind of site, the original intention of the design is to respect the environment and nature, so that resort tourists can enjoy the broad bamboo forest and lake landscape different from the city, making the nature become the theme of the design and enabling the tourists here enjoy the gift of the land.
The designer prepares 4 different techniques to hide the building
Technique 1. The shape turns from “explicitness” to “implicitness” that means the topographization of the building shape
In the urban environment, buildings often are built by complete geometry to cope with congested land use. In the mountains, the building shape need to be design based on the mountain shape, thus making it a part of the mountain. In the process of narration, space keeps reminding tourists that they are in a mountainous area.
In terms of the planning of general layout, service function of the hotel is arranged at the intersection of Y-shaped valley. With gently terrain slopes, it is very convenient to connect with motor vehicle road. At the lower reaches of the service function, there are 3 floors of guest rooms along the falling mountain. At the upper reaches of the service function, two groups of bed-and-breakfast overlook the whole mountain and water system high in the valley. To some extent, gardens in exclusive villa area enclosed by the service function, the landscape trail around the valley becomes the space extension of the building, which is convenient for the centralized management of the hotel. Based on proper function arrangement, a romantic living space is designed and created, which reflects the harmonious coexistence of mountain, water, residence and mankind.
Technique 2. The shape turns from “building” to “landscape” that means the landscape of architectural form
In the urban environment, buildings usually surround the street interface with their shapes, while in the natural environment, buildings transform from strong shapes to natural embellishments. The design creatively implants some cone volumes, partially breaks the horizontal style in a large area and creates the eye catcher of natural landscapes.
Different cones have different shapes, which can provide different activity functions. The implant of cones builds two paths, i.e. public circulation and guestroom circulation. Public circulation: entrance gallery – lobby - dining room – leisure space – SPA. The entrance gallery consists of a horizontally extended roof and sheet columns, the wedge-shaped stone columns in the central pool form landscape elements, creating a scene of falling water from high mountains. The lobby is a cone that opens laterally. Visitors sit here quietly and enjoy the continuous mountains, the sunlight divides the space and the wind drafts in here.
Look at the west side, entertainment is here. The transverse concrete roof floats on the mountain and is anchored to the site by three vertebral bodies. The end of the building is a unlimited swimming pool that locates at the Moon Bay. Natural waterscape and artificial waterscape blend here.
Technique 3. Building transparency means to blur boundaries of indoor and outdoor
In the design, we attempt to blur boundaries of indoor and outdoor. On one hand, it uses the transparency of materials, on the other hand, it creates the transparency of space. The design team hollowed out the thick walls of the building to form a light corridor supported by columns. The boundary between architecture and nature is blurred, which is enhanced by alternate timber pillars and glass windows, creating clear indoor and outdoor views. On the way back to the guestroom, the outdoor corridor connects the elevator hall, and the two sides are naturally reflected on the water. A courtyard is built in the guest room to allow sunlight and air into the moving line. The open facade and rear openings form natural ventilation and lighting. Visitors can always feel the nature, breeze or drizzle, during walking.
Technique 4. Localization of materials
The choice of materials takes the local materials into consideration as much as possible, making the building and surrounding environment complement each other. The horizontal style of the building is made of concrete, supplemented by the template of natural texture and the horizontal lines for surface. The inclined wedge-shaped block uses coarse stone, which indicates the sense of power of vertical elements. Local bamboo and wood are also used in facades or corridors to block the sunlight, creating a variety of spatial experience.
The design of bed-and-breakfast villas pays more attentions to experience and comfort.
Taking advantage of the site and geographical advantages, the villa is set at the top of the mountain, so that it can enjoy spectacular scenery and ensure the privacy of different residents. The first floor of the villa is a private garden and swimming pool. The main living space adopts the glass curtain wall which can be opened by sliding or rotating, ensuring the open sight, high-quality natural lighting and cross ventilation to the greatest extent. The platform heads to the second floor is a cantilever beam, making visitors focus on the distant scenery, and connecting the living room and bedroom suite, where the rest platform and bedroom balcony form a 270 degree viewing platform.
The villa façade continues to use the style of the guest rooms. The horizontal plate emphasizes the extended line, and the vertical element adopts the Y-shaped roof truss, making the building look like a pair of wings of a flying bird, hovering on the top of the mountain, so as to create a unique visual effect.
Credits
HUZHOU
CHINA
Confidential
06/2023
30000 mq
QIANG XU
QIANG XU
Curriculum
Lead architect
Xu Qiang
Architects
Team A: Liu Lixiang, Fan Zhihui, Wang Yun, Yan Li
Team B: Liu Jialong, Zuo Hongtao, Qu Zhen, Yang Gaochuan, Li Tianchang, Su Peizhi, Liu Yinuo, Zhang Shuo, Qu Wuchao, Liu Yangqing, Cao Xu
Design Team Introduction
Tianjin Tianhua Architecture Design was founded in 2014, and now there are about 180 architectural and technical professionals providing services including architectural design, urban design, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering consultation. Our projects covers such areas as residence, commercial, culture, office, complex, etc. The completed works are distributed in Tianjin, Chongqing, Zhejiang, Henan, Shandong, Xiamen, etc.