Bangkok-based landscape architecture firm Shma Company Limited has introduced an elegant, small-scale landscape intervention in front of a Neri&Hu-designed hotel called Le Meridien in Zhengzhou City, China. 

The renovation project comprises approximately 65,000 square feet of space in a densely populated area. The architects were tasked to create a hotel frontage landscape that improves the site’s overall appearance, in addition to enhancing ground parking and vehicular movement. 

The project design pays tribute to Zhengzhou’s historical textile weaving industry through its sculptural landscape weaves and folds. A series of undulating lawn stripes represent silk being woven. The landscape and the existing building seamlessly integrate with each other. A water feature situated in front of the hotel’s lobby drop-off area serves as the main welcoming element.

Two colors, bronze and black, were used for the finishing of the stainless steel for the planters. This was done to play with the public and private characters of the hotel. When viewed from the public side, the bronze acts to project a fun, outgoing energy, as stated by the architects, whereas the black mirror material evokes a calm and relaxing feeling. 

Due to the presence of a new underground metro station beneath half of the landscape, the firm focused heavily on the coordination of paving patterns, manholes, and planting soil depth to achieve a simplistic design result. This includes the camouflaging of four ventilation shafts and an emergency staircase that emerges on the site. 

The architects view this sculptural landscape intervention as a new landmark for Zhengzhou that provides an addition to the city’s public realm.

Video courtesy Shma Company Limited/YouTube.