Suzhou courtyard — Donghuali Boutique Hotel
The project is located in the north section of Pingjiang Road in the ancient city district of Suzhou. In addition to the good field of vision in the East, there are no high-quality external landscape resources in other interfaces. The project also needs to coordinate with the surrounding neighborhood’s windows, courtyard walls, equipment noise, and other practical problems. The owner hopes to use the frame structure of the existing building to build a micro-hotel with about 10 guest rooms, teahouses, coffee shops, and other functions in this 260 square meter land.
In the relatively crowded original space, we adopted the design principle of “micro garden, light fashion”. Through the existing space, we sorted out five small yards in different states (front yard, water yard, atrium, side backyard, balcony yard), so the space flow and infiltration, also each functional room has at least two landscape surfaces.
The first floor includes the front yard, the water yard, the atrium, and the indoor public area. What you experience is an exquisite fashionable courtyard with Suzhou elements, which belongs to the scale of a small courtyard.
Through the outdoor white steel stairs or indoor terrazzo stairs to the second floor, through the outdoor platform or the East viewfinder set in the room, you can feel the old street scale of Pingjiang Road Historical District.
At the terrace on the third floor, the new landmark of Suzhou in the distance, the east gate becomes the end view. At the same time, through the close-up inner courtyard and the middle view skyline of the old street of the ancient city, it forms a vivid picture of time and space.
There are many connected parts between the house and its neighbors. The window of the neighbor’s kitchen is facing the public hall, so the ground window is set to take the view, taking into account the needs of the neighbors.
The hotel space is guided by the setting of several micro courtyards to let the space flow, let the light shuttle into the originally closed space, let the water, stone, wood, green, and other basic natural elements freely diffuse throughout the space, with some natural and warm decorative materials, such as wood veneer, terrazzo, diatom mud as the background, to jointly stimulate the sense of temperature and vitality.
Suzhou Youxiong Hotel
Suzhou Youxiong Hotel is located in the old city of Suzhou under the landmark Beisi pagoda, a few minutes walk from the Beisi pagoda. The hotel is hidden in the lane, surrounded by the husband’s room of the 1990s, quiet and full of smoke.
The hotel was low-key and the height of the building was basically consistent with the surrounding until we saw the bear’s doorplate on the wall. Many people are very interested in the name of “You Xiong”. It’s not for fun or for the real presence of bears, but for historical reasons. Youxiong is the tribal name of the Yellow Emperor in ancient times, which means a kind of tribal shared life.
Before becoming a hotel, the predecessor of this land was also of extraordinary origin. Originally named Jiayuan, it was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, covering an area of 3200 square meters. It is the private residence of Pei Runsheng, the “king of pigments” of the Republic of China, who is the great uncle of the famous architect I.M. Pei. Next, it was transformed into a museum, marriage registry and office building. After many changes, it has become a hotel.
The Bear Hotel has hired the popular designer of Japan, Qingshan Chow Ping, to make plans for its essence and to remove its dross. He proposed the concept of shared space – breaking the closed state between people and enjoying the natural and integrated life of sharing.
Through the cast-in-place concrete wall with bamboo texture, the guests come home from the natural rhythm of the city outside to the quiet and natural atmosphere of the garden.
The designer weakens the function of the front desk and adds the gallery area to make the whole look more beautiful.
There is also a modern private gallery on the second floor. The works will be updated regularly. If you like them, you can pack them and take them away. It’s only open to residents. It’s a good place to cultivate sentiment.
By the side of the pavilions, I ran into a song “Romance of the Western Chamber”. Not a drama fan, but also moved by this wonderful artistic conception.
The 15 guest rooms are divided into East and West Wing rooms, some old houses and some new houses. Starting from 45 square meters, it is a luxury in the old city of Suzhou. The guest rooms of the old house are of wood structure with high space. The white walls echo with the light-colored houses, enhancing the lighting as much as possible.
The new guest room is of the concrete structure. The roof and floor are all rebuilt to make it full of a modern atmosphere. All the furniture is a light color.
The guest room is equipped with kitchen facilities, so it is also suitable for family guests or long-term rental guests.
In addition to the 15 guest rooms, more than half of the area is used as public space, such as garden, study, bar, and even public bubble pool, to encourage guests to explore this new hotel together.