Shenzhen, CN
The hotel lobby takes an area of nearly 10,000 square meters and is 23 meters in height. With such a huge space, YANG was inspired by the towering old trees of the vatica mangachapoi forest, building up 36 huge concrete "trunks" in the lobby. As pillars of the lobby space, the "trunks" are covered by aluminum sheets with natural wooden textures. At the same time, passageways built between "trunks" formed up an air corridor, which not only solve the problem of excessive space scale, but also reproduce a mysterious sense of the jungle.
To ensure the air outlet of the lobby roof is scientific and reasonable enough, designers optimize the plan by repeatedly testing the directions and speeds of local wind, and ultimately come out with the perfect presentation of the magnificent open hotel lobby. This fully open lobby introduces natural sunlight and fresh air into the hotel, and also broadens sight range and landscape space. Sink-style bar counters and seats are deliberately built in the lobby bar, so as to make visions flush with the sea level, and to create a scene of people sitting in the sea. With flowers and trees scattered around, Savana grey marble rough surfaces with rich natural textures and local volcanic rocks are widely used in the lobby space, making people feel like standing amid the rain forest.
Stone materials with natural textures in combination with well-arranged rock modeling create a straightforward natural atmosphere in the Banquet Hall, and guide the light pass through the image of layers of branches and leaves. The usage of aluminum punching materials is a breakthrough in banquet hall ceiling design, making red, blue, purple, and green LED lights pouring down layers of "foliage", so as to create a change of colors and a dreamlike experience.
Designers apply the colors of the vatica mangachapoi forest in nearly 400 rooms to produce different situational experiences, adding up more natural intelligence and vitality into the spaces. Vatica mangachapoi forests’ mottled colors and the patterns of branches penetrate through the design of the carpets and decorative paintings, and with the original colored furniture and grass green pillows, it creates a tranquil feeling of sleeping right in the middle of the forest.
In terms of the overall design of the hotel, YANG also stress a lot on the power of cultures in space, while creating abundant natural atmospheres. Mesh screens in the coastline restaurant which resemble the ancient fishing net, decorations like sailing ships, shells and other marine elements ornaments are telling distant stories of this seacoast; Made of Hainan tiles, the wall of the Specialty restaurant contains a lot of highlights and lowlights and thus becomes a quaint and graceful existence. Patterns of the Li people painted on the wall also fully display the local customs. The modesty and leisurely rattan screens and seats in the Chinese Restaurant are hand-made products of the local craftsmen. The simple and casual line design of the all day dining restaurant, together with rhythmed wooden texture grilles, form up a coordinated sequential feature, which not only encompasses traditional Chinese beauty, but is also rich in senses of holiday leisure .
Bing exposed to the nature and wandering between cultures. Once again, YANG redefines the tradition of designing. By “exiling” most of the hotel space to nature, YANG successfully combine the architecture, the landscape, and the interior design into a harmonious one. As the world's largest Westin hotel, the Westin Shimei Bay Resort is going to be a perfect example of design and nature combination, and a new milestone for Starwood resorts hotels.
Status: Built
Location: No.1 Binhai Road, Shimei Bay Tourism District Wanning, Hainan, China
Firm Role: Design Company
Additional Credits: Project Area: Around 120,000㎡
Hotel Category: Resort Hotel
Management Company: Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Opening Time: 2016
Design Company: YANG & Associates Group
Chief Designers: Yang Bangsheng, Chen Anyun, Tian Shuai