Often landscape designs for hotels and resorts are too full of everything and enclosed, gated, disconnected from the outside world. There is a pressure that landscape needs to be perfect all the time. The Hospitality award was introduced to promote a project that can welcome visitors, tourists, and temporary residents differently. ‘Clouds’ establish the experience not by looking into its own created pocket arcadia, but by absorbing and framing the surroundings. It creates a space of confrontation between visitors and landscape.
- from the award statements
We completed the Clouds in the beautiful Fuxian Lake resort in Chengjiang County, China’s Yunnan Province. Standing by the side of Fuxian Lake, Clouds is the Artistic & Aesthetic Centre of Kunming Vanke. Hugged by mountains and decorated with crystal-clear water, the beauty and mystery of Fuxian Lake have been drawing numerous visitors. Mountain and water are regarded as the most precious natural resources here, which is also why people yearn for and love Fuxian Lake. The site of the Art & Aesthetics Center is located in the open barren vegetation on the mountain side. At the best observation point, we created a link between people, mountains, and rivers. Through space, path and emotion, we hope to naturally create spiritual level resonance and burst of thought when people appreciate the mountains and water.
Clouds tangle in the clear sky, while the mysterious Fuxian Lake reflects the sky and the distant mountains. The sky over Fuxian Lake displays a great show, when rain and clouds drift over, and the clear lake and mountains turn into ripples like wrinkles in ink painting. In the face of such magnificent natural scenery, we did not feel like adding on too much extra, but to have people stay and enjoy the great show of scenery.
Cloud Corridor
The play of light and shadow is always enjoyable, rainy or sunny. We chose white space between the Centre and the sky, paying homage to the real clouds in the sky. Without excessive decoration the white space matches the pure and clear Fuxian Lake. The corridor is curved and has spatial ups and downs as the landform changes. Its one side connects the driveway in the mountains as the entrance of the aesthetic centre and another side to the lake. The curved corridor encloses a piece of meadow in the middle while the border outlines the ethereal sky. The white corridor has its own mood, just as ever-changing as the sky above Fuxian Lake. When it’s sunny and cloudless, the corridor is like white and cheerful silk flowing in the mountains and rivers; when the rain drops, it swiftly turns into a gloomy child; and when night falls, it transforms into a mysterious light as if it leads to the future.
Too luxuriant decoration usually supersedes what really counts. To retain the best view of Fuxian Lake scenery, some dubbed ten thousand glittering glaze, we build the Aesthetic Museum at the end of the corridor. The design of the museum itself has to avoid complexity: floor-to-ceiling glass, clean sky and ground, and a large terrace that extends to the lake – it needs is to dissolve in nature. Situated on the mountainside the Museum is like having its own 270-degree wide-screen made of nature, making one wonder if it’s possible to stay on forever.
Landscaping is not limited to the showcase of techniques, materials, and the eco-system, but also an emotional power that connects human and nature. Built fully immersed in nature, Clouds guides the feeling and appreciation towards nature. The shaping of space itself is a dialogue with nature. It can be simple and elegant, edgy, or carry any other expression. Humanity is never a necessity for nature to shine, though moderate participation from human adds to the human-touch that sometimes enables us to appreciate nature more. We all perceive the world differently. With the aspiration of a dialogue with nature, we hope all find their own nature here.
Landscape Design: Change Studio
Other designers involved in the design of landscape (if any):
Interior and Soft Design: Box Design
Landscape Construction: Yunnan Lanyuan Landscape
Steel Structure Construction: Shenzhen Zhongshi Southern Decoration
Photography: Wang Ning
Project location:
Fuxian Lake, Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, China
Design year: 2017
Year Built: 2018
