Surrounded by unfinished building site, waste land and industrial sites, this 48-room hotel and restaurant complex in a small town is not blessed with a beautiful site. The construction budget and time are also incredibly tight. Fortunately, Taihang Mountain is visible from two major sides.
Usually a hotel room would be designed as an outward box to maximize the view. Consequently, a hotel building would be a collection of outward boxes. We rejected this conventional model and reinvented the actual experience in a typical unit: first, the exterior view below eye-level is blocked; then the opening is “lifted” or enlarged to invite more light and air; at last, the full-size glass door turned the unit into a combination of interior room and exterior micro courtyard, with a visually continuous experience of the scroll-like view of the sky and the mountain.
Using a very simple and consistent method, we invented a “room + micro-yard” model for hotel design, and transformed the disadvantage of the site into a private, ambiguous, and distinctive experience. Devoid of superficial visual elements, Sky Yards evokes the traditional Chinese garden making methodology of concealing and revealing.
Bio Domain Architects strives to reform the spatial experience with innovative site strategy. We consider “experience” as the core of all designs, and believe every site has its potential to generate unique spatial experience. By rejecting conventional models, we keep going back to the original nature of sites and programs to reinvent the logic and quality of spaces.
Mr. Xiaomeng Xu, the founder of the studio, was born in Beijing. He graduated from University of Pennsylvania with B.A. in architecture and then obtained Master of Architecture from Columbia University.
