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The major design concept is inspired by the mountains painted with mineral pigments in the murals of Mogao caves, the UNESCO listed world cultural heritage. Nine colorful and deformed pavilions coated by mineral stucco rise from the sand in the sunken inner courtyard, reflected by the crescent infinity pool right in front, create a unique panorama with surreal vibe for hotel guests returning from Mogao Caves to continue their experience of sutra transformation and get mental tranquility.
According to the zoning regulations, the building height is limited to 12 meters and the color of the exterior has to be sand-like in order to conform to the characteristics of desert topography. The floor area ratio of this project is a bit too high to develop open desert landscape compared to its peers in this region. These conditions call for a more introverted manner, by which a sunken inner courtyard is introduced to serve as a center around which the public areas of the hotel are arranged.
Courtyard has proved to be a sustainable architectural typoloy in arid areas. This project follows this strategy making the sunken inner courtyard a unique desert oasis around which public areas of the hotel are centered. Inside the local courtyard, grape trellis provides some vernacular architectural detail of using hemp rope tying wood pillars, which is adopted in the lobby making a unique colonnade of local influence.
Located within a range of 25km from the famous Mogao caves, the UNESCO listed world cultural heritage and an important foothold of the ancient silk road, the meaning of this project goes beyond the harmony with desert topography, but rather an echo of thousand year sybmolic art represented by the sutra murals. As courtyard has proved to be a sustainable architectural typoloy in arid areas, this project follows this strategy making the sunken inner courtyard a unique desert oasis around which public areas of the hotel are centered. Inspired by the mountains painted with mineral pigments in the murals of Mogao caves, nine colorful and deformed pavilions coated by mineral stucco rise from the sand in the sunken inner courtyard, reflected by the crescent infinity pool right in front, create a unique panorama with surreal vibe for hotel guests returning from Mogao Caves to continue their experience of sutra transformation and get mental tranquility. Inside the pavilions, it is where hotel amenities are provided, including open air jacuzzi and meditation shelter. At the crossroads of the ancient silk road, this is where east meets west. Western colonnade is used as a symbolic formal language, where the vernacular architectural details of using hemp rope tying wood pillars are adopted in the lobby, making a unique colonnade of local influence. This small scale resort hotel is meant to be created as an oasis of the desert, a rather cultural oasis as opposed to a natural one.
It is important to have something unique as well as being respectful to the amazing Buddism art of Murals of Mogao Caves.
Prof. Min Zhuo has been teaching in School of Architecture, China Academy of Arts, since 2010. He has served as head of the Department of Urban Design, director of graduate program, and chair of architectural academic committee in the school. He has been focusing on rediscovery and reinterpretation of vernacular materials in the background of recent unprecedented urbanization in China. He has authored three books and his projects have won international awards multiple times.
