THE SPIRIT WITHIN - A MULTISENSORY JOURNEY THROUGH WINE AND TRADITION IN A CHINESE BOUTIQUE HOTEL
With its layered spatial configuration and cultural depth, this boutique hotel demanded not just a design, but a narrative. Our intervention becomes a guiding thread, a clear yet evocative sign, that leads visitors through a journey of sensations, colors, textures and symbolic references. At the heart of the concept is Chinese wine, not only as a product but as a cultural ritual. Unlike Western traditions where wine is revered for its flavor and age, Chinese wine such as Huangjiu and Baijiu often serves to set the emotional tone of a gathering. This idea became the foundation of our design: to create a space where architecture, like wine, elicits feeling rather than formality.
We drew inspiration from the entire life cycle of wine, from the raw materials (cereals and grains), to the tools of harvest and fermentation and the final alchemical transformation of spirit into experience. Another essential reference came from the traditional dwellings of the Loess Plateau, whose rough-hewn architecture and richly woven textiles offered both protection and ornamentation for generations. Their warmth and simplicity echo through our spatial choices and material palette.
Through few but meaningful elements, we aim to craft a multi-sensorial experience, where every material, every form, every scent and texture leads the visitor deeper into the story. This is a project that does not impose itself on its context but emerges from it, rooted in local heritage, brought to life through a contemporary lens.
The project focuses on three key spaces:
The Main Hall - From Earth to Vessel
A space of discovery and storytelling, the Main Hall showcases the traditional tools and gestures involved in making wine, from ground to jar. Objects are not displayed as artifacts but staged as living traces, bridging the agricultural and spiritual aspects of winemaking. Raw materials: earthy pigments, stone, grain textures evoke the landscape of origin. The experience here is immersive: tactile, visual, symbolic.
The Bedrooms - A Dialogue with Simplicity
Rooted in the spirit of vernacular homes, the guest rooms offer a serene and intimate retreat. Here, ornament gives way to essence: earthy textiles, soft light and organic forms draw the guest into a private world of comfort and memory. Each room is a quiet dialogue with tradition, not a reproduction, but a re-imagining. The atmosphere invites slowness, reflection, and rest.
The Wine Bar - Tasting the Invisible
Sophisticated yet warm, the wine bar becomes the culinary heart of the experience. Light filters through a screen of lined glass, casting shadows across a bench built of “Qu bricks” (Chu) a poetic gesture to the fermenting agent that gives Chinese wine its aroma and soul. These bricks, symbolic of transformation, anchor the space in the metaphor of time, patience and alchemy.
DATA
Location: Yan’an, Shaanxi – China
Year: 2019
Area: 500 sqm
Client: Private
Design Partner: Arch. Francesco de Felice
Interior Design (Hard and Soft Decoration) with: Zhijian Workshop
Architectural Design: China Northwest Architecture Design And Research Institute Co.Ltd. – Team leader: Zhao Yuanchao
Photography: ©Aurelien Chen
Arredamento Mimarlık
January-February, 2021