Nestled outside the perimeter of a small village next to Pudong Disney in Shanghai is a three-story boutique B&B hotel with just 16 rooms, converted from a cluster of four houses and pig houses.
The inner courtyard is the starting point of this design. The high stone wall in the west separates the city further away, while the incomplete wall parallel to the two buildings in the north separates the neighboring village and approaches the inner courtyard space which is more confused, mysterious and weakens the desire.
In order to create tension and texture in the space, several inner courtyards have been extended from the original building, one north-south and the other east-west. This makes the rooms on the first floor not only more quiet and private, but also have a polar change from the city outside. Through the courtyard, the guest room has a selective dialogue with the outside through the high and low and the staggered courtyard wall, which draws the outside city further away.
By using a smooth logic to wrap the whole building with another simple logic and material, the two roofs are connected together, the wooden house surface changes from front to back, left and back, and the white mechanism between the wooden grating connects the white wall with the white cloud, as if the whole building is floating. The upward ramp in the middle moves the vision to the sky. The proper scale of the ramp gives the walking guests a feeling of crossing the country road and echoes the shape of the village behind. The dramatic change of the excessive steel plate also makes the walking more dignified and wild.
The window holes of different sizes and the floor-to-ceiling Windows of the second-floor rooms can better introduce the outdoor scenery into the interior to form a differentiated scenery. The north and south transparent window views connect the bamboo forest on the other side of the river with the unused green space on the north side, exposing the rooms to more wild nature.
At the end, the oversized frame hole connects the ramp with the blue sky, sending you through a time-space tunnel that has lost your memory. The ever-changing white walls erase the tedious memories of the past and guide you to better bring the landscape into your visual realm.
There is a place in Shanghai that can make you forget time, forget place, forget troubles and forget yourself......
Location: shanghai, China
Client: Shanghai Jingxiu Business Consulting Co., LTD
Design Firm: Yuanxiuwan Architect & Associates
Principal Architect: Xiuwan Yuan
Design Team: He Zou, Kuanyong Jin
Structure&Material: Concrete frame, weather resistant steel plate, glass, carbonized wood
Building Area: 1000㎡
Design Period: 12/2017- 05/2018
Construction Period: 10/2017- 08/2018
Photography: Ran Zhang、Xiuwan Yuan
