Project name: Wucheng Migrant Bird Town Hotel

Location: Wucheng Town, Yongxiu County, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province

Project area: 33,000 square meters

Completion time: March 2022

Client: Yongxiu Wucheng Migrant Bird Town Investment & Development Co., Ltd.

Interior design: CCD / Cheng Chung Design (HK) (www.ccd.com.hk)

Architectural design: OI Architects

Photos: TOPIA, Qiu Xin

Located in Poyang Lake Nature Reserve, Wucheng Migrant Birds Town is a tourist attraction enjoying a reputation as a globally-known wetland, a paradise of migrant birds, a millennia-old town, and a desert in water. It's the world's largest habitat for migrant birds to spend the winter. For more than a thousand years, human, birds and nature have been coexisting harmoniously there.

The hotel is located on a wetland beside the lake. The architectural cluster "captures" the aesthetic, dynamic posture of white cranes when landing on Poyang Lake and spreading winds to fly, featuring V-shaped forms. Scattered along a mountain, the buildings are designed with eaves that show unique forms and textures. The building complex forms an ecological and cultural habitat that highlights the theme of "migrant birds".

"Numerous birds fly back to the nest"

The interior design tells the story of "numerous birds flying back to the nest" through artistic expressions. CCD adopted simplistic lines and bamboo, an element that carries Oriental aesthetics, to create a tranquil, peaceful retreat isolated from the daily hustle and bustle. Bamboo is chosen as a key design element, as it symbolizes a clear state of mind, and more importantly represents a simple and tolerant temperament.

Based on the principle of sustainability, the design shows respect to local ecosystem and biodiversity. CCD applied natural materials like bamboo and stone, to minimize waste and the impact on the environment.

In the center of the space, CCD constructed a "nest for migrant birds", which forms an enclosure that eliminates the emptiness of the existing space. Meanwhile, this structure reproduces the relationship between human and nature, and establishes a dialogue between the new and the old.

The dense, slim bamboo poles under the sunlight freely combine to form a bamboo net, filling the space with flexibility and strength.

The large area of blank surfaces creates an open spatial realm and a natural, pure atmosphere. In this way, the space silently conveys an Oriental-style restrained aesthetic.

The primitive design and the simple material textures produce a calming environment that relaxes the body and mind. The bamboo shadows and the moonlight remove the restlessness of the mind, and allow the guests to gain inner peace.

Bring new life to old items

With a millennia-old history, Wucheng Ancient Town has inherited various local crafts, which possess distinctive cultural and artistic charm. Through exploring different design approaches and concepts, CCD redesigned local traditional crafts, and brought them new life in the interior space.

Quaint textures and exquisite craftsmanship are combined. Local crafts such as wood and stone carvings, pottery, wooden ware, and objects made of bamboo strips, are incorporated into the interior design, revealing understated luxury, harmony and modernity.

Swaying reeds and lush bamboo grove

The lush bamboo grove and the swaying reeds interplay with light and shadows. Strolling along the tranquil path, the guests are able to capture a pleasing faint fragrance of grass and leaves.

"The rhythm of the space needs to change with time and the variation of light". Under the light, the space is given expressions, which endow time with meaning.

Embellishments like paintings, moss, crocks and tea utensils, along with the sunshine from the outside, form a poetic scene of daily life.

Nature, light and the space are intertwined, generating a dreamy, poetic retreat.