Project Name: KALHA Hotel – “Unico” Village Renewal

Location: Zhangjiakou, China

Design Team: CPLUS

Area: 1,190 m²

Year: 2024

Photographs: Liu Jing, Captain

Feature：

Project - The KALHA Hotel in “Unico” Village, Zhangjiakou, represents an innovative approach to rural hospitality architecture that transforms a traditional village into a contemporary retreat destination. This unique hotel project ingeniously integrates 10 independent guest room units into a continuous spatial system, creating a harmonious architectural ensemble that responds sensitively to both the terrain and the traditional village fabric.

The project's most distinctive feature is its creative response to the site topography. The building gradually ascends from south to north, creating guest room clusters at four different elevations. This design not only preserves the original terrain characteristics but also provides unique landscape views for each room. The building employs materials that match the local soil color, making the overall form appear as if it were a geometric structure naturally emerging from the earth.

The spatial design excels in its modern interpretation of traditional village spatial sequences. The design team cleverly transformed the original village pathways into the hotel's public streets, creating rich indoor-outdoor spatial experiences. The irregular layout continues the organic growth patterns of the village, avoiding the programmatic spatial arrangement of conventional hotels. Each guest room unit is carefully designed to ensure privacy while offering carefully framed views of the village and distant mountains through thoughtfully placed windows.

The project innovates by functioning not just as accommodation space but as a vibrant social platform. The public areas are designed to accommodate diverse activities, from exhibitions to lectures, from small performances to cultural exchanges, providing rich interaction possibilities between urban visitors and local residents. Through careful control of materials, space, and form, the architectural design presents a fresh interpretation of rural architecture.

Design Team - CPLUS is a Beijing-based architectural practice founded in 2014 by Cheng Yanchun and Li Nan. Over the past decade, the firm has evolved into one of China's most innovative architectural practices, renowned for its profound understanding of traditional culture and innovative application of contemporary architectural language.

The firm's design methodology is built upon the principle that "rational design logic guides architectural sensibility and poetry," particularly excelling in combining Eastern natural philosophy with modern architectural technology. The team adopts a cross-disciplinary collaborative approach, integrating planning, architecture, landscape, and interior design to provide comprehensive design solutions for projects.

Under the leadership of founding partners Cheng Yanchun and Li Nan, the firm has completed numerous acclaimed projects. Cheng Yanchun holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from Waseda University, focusing on settlement and housing research, while Li Nan, educated at ENSA-PVS in France, manages the firm's operations. This fusion of Eastern and Western cultural perspectives brings a unique design approach to the firm.

CPLUS has garnered several significant awards in architectural design, including being shortlisted for the 2022 Architizer A+Awards "Best Young Firm." The practice's work spans cultural, educational, commercial office, and cultural tourism projects, with active involvement in urban renewal and rural revitalization initiatives. Their work particularly emphasizes spatial experience and environmental interaction, striving to create new living possibilities through architectural design.