A HOTEL YOU SHOULDN’T MISS

Across the vast land along the route to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan  in China, and situated some 100 kilometers away, rests the landscape of  Xuchang, a town that seems to be forever obscured by cloudy skies, dry  soil and the gray debris of burning coal, the primary source of energy and  warmth in the area of perpetual winter. The town’s almost complete lack  of tourist attractions is notable and when the team of architects from  Department of Architecture first arrived in Xuchang, realization set in during the site inspection that, after having agreed to take on the task for  a Chinese developer of turning the land into a new destination hot spring  hotel, right here, against all the odds, they were practically in the middle  of nowhere.

The color of the glass facade creating the second skin of the building is inspired by the spectrum of Thailand’s sky and corresponds to the environment of Zhengzhou

The ‘nothingness’ of the site served as a catalyst for  Department of Architecture who later realized that ‘color’  was the missing element in the town’s somber environment. The idea led to the design of the user’s sensorial  experience through the way people interact with colors.  Amata Luphaiboon of Department of Architecture told  art4d that they were inspired by the birth of color movies in the early 20th Century when color films had not yet  been introduced to filmmaking. The coloring technique was done by hand, frame by frame, with the black and  white film being dyed with layers of colors to create  coloring effects on the projected moving images. The  light was projected through the air, filtered, intermixed  and superimposed with colors into moving visuals.

The superimposition of monotonic images and layers of translucent colors was incorporated into the architectural  and interior elements of THE MIST HOT SPRING HOTEL. The façade with its colored glass clad on the bamboo  scaffolding-inspired structure installed along the building interacts with the rays of light and created are effects of light and color on the terrace area. The filtered light  renders interesting patterns of colors on the floor, walls and furniture in each room. In reverse, if one were to  look through the colored glass walls from the building’s  interior space, this very same façade functions as a  filter that dyes the sky different hues throughout the day,  making the surrounding environment to be more interesting.  The emphasis is put on the presence of the  colored light while the monotonic colors such as white  and black are used with both the building and interior  decorations, allowing for the colors of the projected  light and shadow to be accentuated.

The hot spring buried 20 meters underground is made  present as a key element of the program. Department  of Architecture contemplated the role of the hot spring,  which serves as the heart of the project, and decided to make its presence more discernible to the hotel’s  guests. They were particularly interested in the idea  of synthesizing the design concept of the project’s  master plan, architecture and interior space using  the obscured forms and images created by the mist  from the hot springs. The architects materialized the  masterplan by situating the five buildings to surround  the manmade pool with a cluster of small pavilions, which serve as the hotel’s private hot spring pools, situated right in the middle of the large pool. With  the limited distance between the pavilions and the  public space, the privacy of the guests who use the  private pool became a concern. However, the mist  of the steam coming from the pool perfectly partitions  and prevents the private hot spring pool from being  visually accessed by the surrounding buildings. The  design incorporates the presence of the mist by  giving it the role of a natural curtain while the connectivity  of the functional spaces around the pool  is kept from being physically disrupted.

Both the organic and artificial mist play a significant role in generating a sense of privacy around the private hot spring pool

The story of the mist plays a part in the narrative of the interior design through the presence of a number of large-scale sculptures. The art pieces convey the  aesthetics of the mist in various forms and conditions.  The lines of the braided crystals form a sculpture  that is hung from the ceiling in a rhythm that  creates varying patterns when viewed from different  angles, similar to the spectrum of light reflected on the particles of the mist. The floating artwork above  the lobby creates the feeling of being misted with  the debris of light and, while spectacular in its presence, the piece does not block access to the outside view  thanks to the airiness of its mass that allows for visual  access to the outside surroundings.

Apart from this particular piece, other artworks can be found in different parts of the interior. Another large-scale  sculpture installed at the atrium of the corridor in front of the hotel’s rooms is inspired by the shape of the waves  caused by water droplets and the mass of splashed water  that such effect creates. The design team uses stainless  steel sheets and stone to create a pattern that symbolically  represents the physicality of the mist. The reflective element  of the steel creates an illusion, causing the space to look  loftier. Looking up, one can see small stairways that link the  walkways between the two buildings together. All the elements  combined make the usually neglected corridor area  to be more distinctive, which results from the design that  deviates from people’s common perceptions and experiences of scale and gravity.

Countless pieces of crystal come together in a sculpture made by this Thai artisan that creates a sense of being enveloped in a layer of mist

With the restaurant, the team employs the silver lining effect of clouds in the design of transparent acrylic partitions used to separate each dining table from one another. When touched by the light, the sandblasted edges of the acrylic panels illuminate and mimic the curved silhouette of clouds while the lighting is controlled to change the mood of the room as desired. There are far greater details in terms of the attempts to experiment and play with different qualities of the materials, but one of the things the design team seemed to be very proud of was how most of the works of art were created from the minds and skills of Thai craftsmen and artists.

The architects utilized the form of the silver lining effect of the clouds as a decorative element within the hotel restaurant area

The sense of inverted gravity represented through the drop-like metal sculpture

THE MIST HOT SPRING HOTEL places itself amongst an unconventional context as it transforms natural elements such as sunlight, waves of water in the pool or the mist of the hot springs into unique architectural elements. It is designed to respond to the changing of the seasons in the most natural and powerful ways. Department of Architecture’s use of architectural techniques with both the interior spaces and exterior structure, including the lighting design and artworks, help to materialize and visualize the abstract elements into something palpable for human’s sensory perceptions. What the work does is to harmonize and intertwine reality and surreal elements from the clash of the natural to manmade mist or the way colors can only be perceived when there is light present, and existing as a part of its serene, unassuming form are stories of nature and beautifully curated sensorial experiences.

The masterplan of the hotel consists of five buildings surrounded by the main pool where a cluster of private hot spring pools are situated