HOTEL VOID
A Decentralized Hotel Spreading Along the Nanluogu Alley
A conceptual design I created during my final year at University of Minnesota.
Featured in Zerobeyond #Rhino3D #Enscape
This diagram highlights the various program locations within Hotel Void in Nanluogu Alley, located in the center of Beijing.
In my research on courtyard houses, I delved into their historical and contemporary dynamics, exploring themes of user hierarchy, material essence, Feng Shui principles, commercialization, and densification.
Numerous strategies employed in this hotel play with the interplay of solids and voids, challenging perceptions of background and figure, public and private, both visually and spatially.
This is the lobby space where the view from the Nanluogu alley goes through the existing private courtyard, and the view from the back street into the lobby space (see below).
View from Nanluogu Alley looking into the private courtyard.
View from the backstreet from the back street into the lobby and the private court yard,
One of the private suites.
A speakeasy that’s not speaking so easily.
The bar is influenced by the underground punk music in Beijing
Turning the old fashion into a new hype - as a part of the hotel amenities, hotel void doesn’t only have music and alcohol - we keep the tradition in old Beijing going. Come play a session of your favorite boardgame in the alley while other people watch,
Next, the garden breaks the boundaries between the private and the public through physical portals.
A view from a private courtyard looing through the layers of public and private.
Another suite that is built as an open space that connects the comfort of indoors to the vastness of the outdoors.
Last but not least, for whom enjoy people watching. In the end of the alley, the sculptural piece provides a semi-open space just for people watching, because why not enjoy watching the bustling street at sundown in the middle of a historic city?
It was a conceptual project; it was the first time I find my root in Beijing was deeper than I thought - it was my love letter to where I was born and grew up.