This is Shandong, home to China’s fifth largest unique landform, the Daigu landform.
In 2022, we embarked on a journey from Hangzhou to this remote location, dedicated to designing and constructing a project that feels like coming home.
The Nameless Realm Returning to Gu Natural Healing Homestay was completed after nearly a year of construction. During this time, Miao Kun, the lead design manager, lived onsite, personally overseeing and guiding every stage to ensure the design was flawlessly realized without compromise.
The project is situated on the former site of a third-tier military factory, where several factory buildings remain well preserved.
What should be done with these existing military factory buildings? Should they be demolished or preserved?
Design Strategy:
1. Preserving memories
The design carefully preserves the historic walls of each building based on their unique characteristics and current condition. This approach retains every memory, creating a bridge between history and the present for visitors.
2. Harmonizing old and new
New constructions are thoughtfully integrated with the historic buildings, creating a dialogue between past and present. This blend allows the legacy of the site to continue and be inherited.
△ The buildings are arranged in a staggered formation.
The complex includes 26 small buildings plus one historic house.
Upon arrival, visitors are greeted by a military memorial wall that transports them back to the 1960s. This wall engages in a cross-temporal dialogue with figures from that era, allowing guests to experience the Yimeng spirit and military culture firsthand.
Inside the homestay’s reception hall, remaining walls and industrial design elements recall the era of the military factory.
△ Reception Hall Exterior
The reception area features a front desk constructed from stacked ammunition boxes and brick 9381, evoking powerful memories of that historical period.
Indoor reception hall
The restaurant blends reality with virtuality by combining old and new materials, offering guests a fresh way to experience the ambiance of the past.
△ Restaurant
The historic walkway on the second floor, combined with an observation tower, invites visitors to enjoy expansive views while reflecting on the past and present.
△ Corridor Exterior View
From the historic walkway, visitors can gaze upward to admire the vast Daigu landscape, envisioning the future. Looking down reveals military memories along the corridor, offering a tangible connection to the site’s history.
△ Corridor
The highlight of the historical journey is the watchtower, perched at the highest point of the site, symbolically overlooking both the past and the future.
△ Watchtower
Sunlight naturally filters into the rooms, casting soft light across walls and floors steeped in history, highlighting the spiritual essence of the past.
△ Indoor multifunctional hall
The architecture blends virtual and real elements, incorporating glass features that maximize natural views and bring the landscape inside.
△ Book Bar Interior
Located at the prime spot of the site, the bar sits next to the outdoor swimming pool, offering panoramic views of the majestic Daigu landscape.
△ Bar Exterior
The design reuses existing building walls to establish a meaningful dialogue between the old and the new structures.
△ Bar Interior
The design draws inspiration from the traditional village textures of the Yimeng Mountain region. The site’s varied elevations create winding, stepped pathways that cultivate a rustic, culturally rich atmosphere.
△ Bar Interior
This area reflects the same inspiration from the Yimeng Mountain’s ancient village patterns, emphasizing the charm of winding paths on varied terrain.
△ Guest Room Area
Project Drawings
△ Reception Area Plan
△ Reception Area Section
△ Multifunctional Hall Floor Plan
△ Sectional Drawing of Multifunctional Hall
Project Details
Project Name: Nameless Realm Returning to Gu Nature Healing Homestay
Design Firm: Hangzhou Guixiang Homestead Technology Co., Ltd
Type: Architecture
Materials: Hand-brushed stone, plaster, rusted metal plates, aluminum panels
Tags: Shandong Architecture, Interior Design, Integrated Landscape Design
Category: Leisure, Entertainment, Homestay, Hotel
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