PROJECTS & HOSPITALITY
The ‘lift’ strategy The Sky Yards Hotel evokes the traditional method of Chinese garden-making to hide and reveal. The “room + micro-courtyard” model takes the disadvantage of the site location and turns it into a new, distinctive experience that “lifts” the gaze
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he Sky Yards Hotel is minimalist and white and emerges as a visually continuous experience because of its imperceptible borders and balconies that are “raised” or expanded like the milk carton’s spouts to receive light and air. It frames the surrounding landscape, making the eyes of observers turn upwards and beyond in the direction of the Taihang Mountains. The hotel’s presence raises the level of this site that is objectively disadvantaged by an unfinished construction site and waste and industrial land, in a small town in the province of Henan. Domain Architects, because of this not very pleasant setting, rejected the conventional model of the contemporary hotel room focusing on the connection between inside and outside, focusing instead on the room experience. Full-size glass doors divide the unit and combine the room and micro-yard, where the exterior wall seems to have been pinched here and there by an invisible hand, creating a distinctive facade that successfully hides the landscape below. This also gives the large balconies enough privacy to hold outdoor bathtubs. During the day, the sunlight interacts variously with the opening’s curved 116 | IFDM
HOTEL
Jiaozuo, China
