Located on the site of a former factory, Garden Terrace Miyazaki comprises a single two-storey building that features bamboo-clad walls and a large sloping roof with overhanging eaves.

A faceted timber canopy shelters the entrance to the hotel, leading through to a reception where guests are faced with a view of the courtyard.

Kengo Kuma and Associates designed this space as a "calm and tranquil environment", where a landscape of bamboo trees and pools of water provide a scenic setting to the glazed wedding chapel at its centre.

Restaurants and event rooms surround the other sides of the courtyard, while guest rooms are located on the first floor.

Kengo Kuma has completed several projects in recent months, including a timber-clad primary school in Tokyo, an installation of stone and water in Milan and an experimental house in Hokkaidō. See more architecture by Kengo Kuma.

Photography is by Fujinari Miyazaki.

Here's a short description from Kengo Kuma and Associates:

Garden Terrace Miyazaki

The hotel was built at a vast site near JR Miyazaki station, where a factory once stood. Around it houses and aparrments spread in no particular order.

Facilities of the hotel - guest rooms, banquet room and restaurants are arranged to circle the courtyard.

Loosely sloped roof came out as the result of each function underneath. It wraps the entire building - two-storey structure under the deep eaves.

Bamboo is planted and water is laid out in and out of the hotel and its courtyard, providing a calm and tranquil environment that stretches even to the residential area.

Completion: September 2012
Main use: hotel
Total floor area: 4562.04 sqm

The post Garden Terrace Miyazaki by
Kengo Kuma and Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

Loïc Picquet renovated the interior of the single-storey farmhouse to accommodate a communal living and dining room, then added the timber-clad extension to create four guest rooms, each with a double bed and en suite bathroom.

The timber frame of the existing structure is exposed inside the building, so the architect followed suit by leaving wooden ceiling beams uncovered in each of the new bedrooms.

Floors are also wooden, while stable doors separate bedrooms from bathrooms and timber-framed cubbyholes contain extra beds and storage areas.

"A new wood construction was added as a natural and fluid extension of the old farm, not only renovating it but mostly honoring it by the use of its history and details," said the architect. "Niches were built in the walls and double doors were chosen over the regular ones, so that a special interaction between the bathroom and the room could be created."

A chunky wooden staircase with staggered treads leads to the new upper floor and marks the divide between the new and old structures.

New timber-framed panel windows were added to the old building, while square Velux windows were installed for each of the bedrooms in the extension.

Other renovated farm buildings to feature on Dezeen include a house in southern England, a converted cattle shed in Belgium and a reconstructed stone stable in Spain. See more renovation projects.

Photography is by Stéphane Spach.

The post Création de 4 chambres d'hôtes
by Loïc Picquet appeared first on Dezeen.

The hotel, for international chain Westin, is located in Xi'an, the 3000-year-old city where tourists flock to visit ancient sculptures the Terracotta Warriors. Neri&Hu planned the hotel as a modern building but added details that reference the historic local vernacular, such as gently inclining rooftops and bold flashes of red.

Interpretations of Chinese courtyards begin with a large rectangular garden contained at the heart of the building. Meanwhile, a top-lit atrium is located on the eastern side of the plan and forms the centre point for four smaller indoor courts.

"As in Chinese architecture, the 'Tian Jing' is an important concept that we wanted to bring to this hotel in a city that boasts rich Chinese history, artefacts and heritage," the architects told Dezeen. "Its spiritual functions in Chinese traditional architecture are profound and we intended to bring this experience into the hotel."

Dark stucco and stone clads the exterior of the five-storey building and a narrow strip of glazing separates the walls from the sloping roof. Vertically sliced windows decrease in size towards the top of the facade to create the impression of a tapered volume.

The architects cite the bulky massing of the city walls as inspiration: "The monumental scale of the Xi'an Westin building is not to be missed and inevitably it makes a lasting impression on each visitor to the hotel. But this is also a local character, given that the building footprint and massing is largely defined by the municipality, to be in keeping with the character of Xi'an as one of the most historically significant ancient cities in China."

Flashes of red colour the window recesses, revealing the thickness of the outer walls. In most places these openings are slanted to direct views towards nearby landmark the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.

Pools of water line the perimeter to give the illusion of a floating building, while slatted timber canopies mark the entrances for guests. One entrance leads into a ground floor lobby, while the other brings visitors down into a subterranean museum.

Neri&Hu also created three restaurants for the hotel, including one where diners sits beneath a cluster of skeletal pendant lamps.

Chinese architects Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu previously designed a hotel inside an abandoned former army headquarters, which was named overall winner at the Inside awards in 2011. In a recent interview, the pair told Dezeen that Chinese architects need to stem the tide of "half-assed" building projects in the country.

Other recent projects by the studio include a design gallery and event space in a former colonial police station and an apartment where rooms are displayed like exhibits. See more architecture by Neri&Hu or more architecture in China.

Photography is by Pedro Pegenaute.

Here's some more information from Neri&Hu:

Xi'an Westin Hotel

In an ancient capital of China, Neri&Hu Design Research Office's design of the Westin in Xi'an emerges as a tribute to both the city's importance as a hub of burgeoning growth in the region, as well as its long standing status as a cradle of Chinese civilisation. With 3,100 years of history embedded in the layers of the city, Xi'an is not merely a formidable backdrop to the building itself but has provided the architects with design inspirations that inextricably link its past to its present and future.

Above: ground floor plan - click for larger image

Arriving in Xi'an's historic center, one is immediately struck by the fortress-like expanse of its enveloping city walls, and the architecture of the Westin takes cues from this heavy monumentality. Respectful of its urban context, the dark stucco and stone clad building blocks adopt the profile of vernacular Chinese architecture. While the sloped contours and overhanging eaves of the roof are immediately recognisable, its traditional details have been reduced to the clean lines of a minimalist contemporary architecture. The rhythmic sequence of deep-cut openings on the façade shifts playfully, getting smaller on each subsequent level of the five storey structure, giving the illusion of the building mass tapering as it rises. Each opening, lined in a vibrant red hue, is slanted to direct views to neighbouring landmark the Big Wild Goose Pavilion and reveals the thickness of this architecture, as deeply rooted in its history as in the ground itself.

Above: basement floor plan - click for larger image

The apparent heaviness of the architectural volumes is constantly juxtaposed against elements which bring a certain lightness to the project. From afar, it becomes apparent that the pitched roof, which is typically quite low and heavy in a traditional Chinese building is here, handled with more delicacy. Bulkiness shed and curves straightened, the roof is lifted from the building mass below by a band of glazing and floats one level above. Approaching it, one discovers that the entire assemblage of buildings is surrounded by a reflective pool of water, leaving the impression of a building that is suspended in an infinite sky. At either of its two main entries, wooden slatted canopies are gently attached to the façade and allow light and shadow to permeate deep into the interior, drawing visitors in further. Once inside, a pleasant surprise awaits, the light which floods in through skylit courtyards carved from each volume, as a piece of landscape implants itself into the center of each block. The architects' constant effort to extend the exterior into the interior manifests most grandly perhaps in the sweeping set of stairs at the East entry, which brings visitors down two levels below into a large sunken garden at the very heart of the project, around which are located the main public spaces. Like the Neolithic Banpo village on the skirts of Xi'an, or the terracotta warriors for whom millions travel each year to visit, the architecture is a celebration of the subterranean.

Above: third floor plan - click for larger image

Along the journey from the East entry to the central sunken garden is a feature which is unique to the Westin Xi'an, a museum housing ancient mural art from the region. Neri&Hu's concept for this space is grounded in the basic notion that the display format for murals should be inherently different from the display of any other form of art. As historic objects of art needs strict humidity, lighting, and temperature control, the design of the exhibition space starts with those basic units of exhibition, metal cases hung on bare white walls. Departing from the quintessential "white cube" museum idea here, each unit of display casework is positioned in a way that expresses each case's individuality and the individuality of each work of art within. By detaching the casework from the white wall, and then framing the mural fragments as individual works, one is able to more deeply appreciate each one as a unique art piece.

Above: section A-A - click for larger image

The Westin Xi'an features three restaurants whose interiors Neri&Hu was also responsible for. The Chinese restaurant is a free-standing building which caps off the sunken garden on the West side, and its detachment from the other buildings allowed the architects to experiment more freely with its massing. Cleverly playing on the notion of the heavy roof, the entire building here is expressed as a Mansard roof which drops so low it appears to only be slightly hovering off the ground. Dormer windows protrude on each side to provide light, and the structure of the roof is exposed on the interior, so that one is constantly reminded of the inhabitation of this roof. The Private Dining Rooms are contained within a brick mass with vertical cuts through it, bringing unexpected light and views to the dining experience. The concept for the Japanese restaurant is derived from the stage of Kabuki theater, where actors surround the audience and perform in the round. In this restaurant, the main circulation paths are elevated around the perimeter, with diners inhabiting the sunken area in between; servers and passersby become performers on stage. Continuing the theme of performance and display, the All-day-dining restaurant features glass encased dining and buffet areas in the center of the space. Like a marketplace display vitrine, the food and spectacle of feasting become focal points.

Above: section B-B - click for larger image

With Neri&Hu Design Research Office's fresh take on historic references, the Westin Xi'an pays due homage to this ancient city, while continuing to break through preconceived notions of Chineseness in architecture.

The post Xi'an Westin Hotel
by Neri&Hu appeared first on Dezeen.

First opened in 2005, the hotel comprises a series of timber cabins where guests can observe the stars whilst lying in their beds.

Some cabins feature geodesic domes on their rooftops, while four recent additions by Santiago studio RDM Arquitectura come with large angled skylights and rooftop viewing platforms.

James Florio used over 23,000 photographs to make the four-minute movie, taken over a period of six months.

Other recent architecture projects in Chile include a hillside house with staggered terraces and a rusted steel and concrete school building. See more architecture in Chile.

See more hotels on Dezeen, including one filled with portable sleeping capsules.

The post Hotel Elqui Domos
filmed by James Florio appeared first on Dezeen.

Containing just five suites and a cafe, the small concrete hotel sits beside the seafront in the small fishing village and was designed to give each guest a different view of the surrounding archipelago.

"We planned the building to be recognised as a single mass as one approaches, yet we wanted the five units to be independent and private," AND's senior researcher Lee, Kyoung Tae told Dezeen. "The intention has resulted in a building form that reminds you of fingers pointing at the archipelago, or a sea creature like an octopus."

The entire structure appears as a solid mass of concrete, including the balconies. Windows sit in deep recesses, revealing the thickness of the walls.

"The monolithic quality of concrete reflects the architectural concept well," said Lee. "Also, the pattern left on the surface after taking off the formwork gives the building an organic quality."

Guest rooms inside the three-storey building are arranged over five split levels and each suite comes with a balcony and a small kitchen.

The hotel is one of several planned additions to the village intended to encourage tourism.

South Korean studio AND is based in Seoul. Past projects include the cedar-clad Villa Topoject and the Skinspace art studio with a wall of wooden scales.

See more architecture in South Korea »

Photography is by Kim, Yong Gwan.

Above: concept diagram

Here's a project description from AND:

Aggrenad

Sea + Archipelago

The site sits in front of the sea where the famous sea battle between Korea and Japan took place in the 16th century, which caused the return of General Lee Sun Shin back to the Korean navy. There still are attempts to search the remains of the historic Turtle Ship in the sea.

Above: site plan

While listening to the famous story from the client, the winding coastline and the varying water level of the archipelago create the continuously changing landscape. The small islands are like buildings and the sea is like streets and squares.

Above: ground floor plan

Mass + Individual

Unlike other well-known beaches in the island, the site is located in a small fishing village slightly off from the major tourist area. The residents of the village mostly work in the fishing industry and have long been living in the area for generations. Recently, there have been changes in the village. The town plans to construct the Battle of Chilchunryang Memorial Park and a beach to attract more tourists.

Above: first floor plan

Within these changes the owner plans to build a small Guesthouse. Soon, the site will be a place where the public (mass) visits and the memories are accumulated. Isn’ it better to offer individual frames of the landscape for them rather than to offer a monotonous scene like a souvenir photograph? How shall we construct an architectural device that produces different images of the same place?

Above: second floor plan

Aggregation + Monad

The building is formed like how fingers are branched out from a hand forming different parts. It is the aggregation of unique rooms, yet at the same time, it is an organic monad. Each unit is cantilevered out towards the sea as if fingers are pointing at the nearby islands. This allows each unit to frame the surrounding landscape in a unique way. This three story building is consisted of five rooms and a small cafe, and the rooms stacked in five split levels. The floor and the ceiling of each unit are stretched out toward the different directions, and at the end of each unit is a small balcony, which opens up toward the sea and the sky.

Above: front elevation

Project Name: Aggrenad
Design: AND
Construction: Kim, Dong Shik
Location: Geojesi, Gyeongsangnamdo, Korea
Site: 433.00m2
Construction Area: 121.26m2
Gross Area: 198.55m2
Floors: 3
Structure: RC
Materials: Exposed Concrete

Above: north elevation

The post Aggrenad hotel
by AND appeared first on Dezeen.