Location: Taiyuan, China.

Architect: IAPA PTY.LTD.

The proposal for Taiyuan art hotel aims to break away from the typical stereotypes of art hotels and redefine the relationship between art spaces and the hotel complex. The hotel takes inspiration from the Shaanxi district in northern China, where underground cave dwellings have been a traditional type of living for almost two thousand years. The art spaces of Taiyuan art hotel are mainly carved out from the ground to create sunken courtyard spaces, but the diagram goes beyond this by continuing to generate courtyard spaces at ground level and above ground level, stacking them on top of each other, creating interesting negative spaces and connecting them both physically and visually. This creates a hybrid condition that combines a hotel and an art museum, where the two programs are superimposed on top of each other, creating multiple diverse and interesting spaces. The art gallery spaces are created from the carved out underground level and distributed in-between the hotel’s public spaces and are blended into the residential section of the hotel, which is connected directly to the underground art facilities. The surrounding landscape design connects the terrace to the building laterally and the courtyard’s void spaces connect vertically to the sky, creating the interconnectivity of different functions.