HERMIT RETREAT

Hermit Retreat has been designed to become a distinguished rural destination in Pingwu County, where Chinese tradition meets modern luxury.

Therefore, the design is strongly inspired in traditional Chinese rural architecture, but with a modern twist. We believe that the mixture of traditional & modern styles is the key for a successful boutique touristic destination in a rural setting.

Thus, we have adopted certain traditional features of Chinese rural architecture into our design.

The challenge of this project was designing 1 rural hotel split in 2 different plots. The original position of the existing buildings in Plot 1 and Plot 2 are irregular and atomized.

Therefore, with the aim of sewing both plots together, we use a Fish-bone Scheme, in which the central path in between both plots is the main spine or lane, and from there we can easily reach and access every pavilion through secondary paths.

In order to achieve an efficient Fish-bone Scheme, we re-position all the pavilions nearby the main spine, separating the pavilions in Plot 2 from the neighbor pre-existing constructions on the North part, and proposing new pavilions in Plot 1, also closer to the central path.

The main spine, besides being the main circulation area, turns into a platform with areas for contemplation and social interaction, uniting both plots naturally into one comprehensive joint proposal.

In order to offer a premium, private, cozy, boutique experience, we opted for organizing the units in separated wooden villas built on piles, rather than in rooms within the same building.

This enhances the sense of privacy, and allows us to create private outdoor terraces to connect with nature in a much closer way.

The lobby building has been elevated from the ground level in order to obtain an extra covered, usable, open public space underneath for social interactions among guests.

This open common space counts with a BBQ area, and a communal long table for sharing meals or bonfires at night.

Since it’s covered but not closed, its GFA counts as 50%, a good strategy to gain a big common usable area without increasing too much the total GFA of the plot.

Even though the GFA for the entire project was very limited, we have prioritized comfort, coziness, and happiness over built m2.

In the Plot 1, the brief suggested to use 160m2 as maximum building area, using 100m2 for the Lobby & common areas, and 60m2 in rooms.

We completely inverted that formula, dedicating 100m2 to the villas to be able to get 3 villas of 33,3 m2 each + outdoor terrace, while using only 60m2 for the Lobby Building.

In the Plot 2, the brief suggested to use 120m2 as maximum building area, dedicating 100m2 to rooms and just 20m2 to open pavilions.

Attractive common outdoor areas can be used as selling points by the hotel managers, and ultimately will be what makes a great experience for guests.

Besides the central path as a space for contemplation, with outdoor seating opportunities, we have also created twisted versions of Chinese pavilions, covered spaces fostering social gatherings, playing, resting and fun outdoor experiences.

As outdoor features, we also created a “Gate Element” inspired in Chinese gates placed at the entrances of old towns or neighborhoods, indicating that once trespassing that gate, the nice experience begins.

Hermit retreat has been designed to become a distinguished rural destination in Pingwu County, where Chinese tradition meets modern luxury.