The World of Hospitality Issue 15 2016 | Page 34

34 The Temple House the World Of Hospitality apartments, as well as an array of restaurants, cafes, and other general facilities. Throughout the design process, Make and Swire Hotels undertook rigorous testing of visual and expe riential possibilities relating to surface textures, internal light and shadow effects, and interior views. The city-facing and internal courtyard-facing facades were given entirely different treatments; the former is essentially solid and brick-built, the latter are sheer curtain-walls of subtly fritted glass, which maximise the reflection of light into the courtyard. Website: www.thetemplehousehotel.com The city-facing brick facades of the hotel and apartment segments were inspired by the local production of brocade, with façade panels formed of brick and black solid reconstituted stone lintel elements. The three-dimensional woven façade combines modern design with the traditional Chengdu architectural elements of timber, brick and step stones. steep hillsides when seen from beneath. The terracing effect was echoed even more dramatically in the design of the grand staircase that connects the ground floor reception area to the courtyard. The Temple House forms part of Chengdu’s Daci Temple Cultural and Commercial Complex, a largescale mixed-use development by Sino-Ocean Land and Swire Properties, in one of the city’s many rapidly developing urban areas. The light-wells embedded in the courtyard layer, organically shaped in plan and stepped in section, are reminiscent of the terraced paddy fields of Sichuan’s | Architect: www.makearchitects.com | Images: www.johnmaddenphoto.com