Tradition has played a central role in the design of one of
Beijing’s new boutique hotels, Hotel Kapok, or more widely known as “The Blur
Hotel”.
Formerly a large government office building on the edge of
the Forbidden City, the designers, Studio Pei-Zhu, proposed a refurbishment
project over a demolition of the original structure.
Their design incorporated elements from traditional Chinese
architecture, most notably the siheyuan or courtyard houses. Architect Pei Zhu,
who heads the studio, drew inspiration from a Chinese lantern to create the
hotel’s façade.
The result is a semi-transparent wall of fiberglass reinforced
plastic (FRP) that wraps around the hotel, and allows light to pass through,
thus generating a translucent glow reminiscent of the Chinese lanterns that
inspired this design.
via WorldArchitectureNews.com