neri & hu's 'walled' hotel is a boutique fortress with chinese courtyards

situated in close proximity to yangzhou’s scenic slender west lake, the site given to neri & hu to design a 20-room boutique hotel called ‘the walled’ was a challenging one, dotted with small lakes and a handful of existing structures. the design brief called for the adaptive reuse of several old buildings by giving them new functions, while adding new structures to accommodate the hotel’s capacity needs. neri & hu’s strategy to unify these scattered elements was to overlay a grid of walls and paths onto the site to tie the entire project together, resulting in multiple courtyard enclosures.

UPDATE: this project was shortlisted in the ‘hotel and leisure – completed buildings’ category at the 2018 world architecture festival.

all images © pedro pegenaute

the inspiration for the design originates with the courtyard house typology of vernacular chinese architecture. as a traditional one, the courtyard gives hierarchy to the spaces, frames views of the sky and earth, encapsulates landscape into architecture, and creates an overlap between interior and exterior spaces.

constructed entirely from reclaimed grey brick, the gridded walls’ narrow interior passageway forces a long perspective, while light plays off the various brick patterns. within the walls, several of the courtyards are occupied by guest rooms and shared amenities such as the reception, library, and restaurant. many of the building’s roof lines are confined within the height of the walls surrounding them, so that they are not visible from afar.

hotel guests traverse the site using the walled pathways to find their rooms. there is a clear separation between the building and the walls, a layering of privacy and a sliver of the landscape for guests to enjoy. walking along the walls, guests can also ascend through openings above to gain privileged vantage points that look out across the gridded landscape and beyond to the surrounding lakes.

three additional buildings take their place in the panorama: the rising second floor of the largest courtyard building; a lakeside pavilion of four guest rooms; and a multifunctional building at the furthest point of the site. in this project, neri & hu’s ambition lies in utilizing a strong landscape element — the wall and courtyard — to unify a complex site and program, while the rustic materiality and layered spaces seek to redefine tradition with a modern architectural language.