Designing a hotel like a walled Chinese city | Sanya Wellness Retreat

The third instalment of our video series FRAME Views: Localized Hospitality shows a Neri&Hu project that emphasizes local design customs by leaning into the site’s natural surroundings, offering a meditative guest experience.
Neri&Hu designed the Sanya Wellness Retreat located on Haitang Bay on Hainan Island, a popular resort destination in China. The waterfront hotel’s design draws on the local design vernacular and is inspired by an archetypal ancient Chinese walled city surrounded by water. The hotel is formed by two adjacent L-shaped buildings. Between them, a rectangular water courtyard is located which forms the centre of the public amenities. The lobby is covered in local plant life, echoing the surrounding garden landscape. The island’s design heritage was also invoked, with fabrics and rugs inspired by the textile arts of the local Li tribe. Neri&Hu’s restrained, material-forward and localized approach reflects the greater shift in Chinese hospitality design that has moved away from ‘opulent splendour’. The space’s clean and simple aesthetic is a meditation on the island’s design tradition, serving as the ideal background for those in search of sensory calm.
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