Wiki World-Mountain&Cloud Cabins | Mu Wei

Design: Wiki World+Advanced Architecture Lab(AaL)

Architects: Mu Wei, Zhang Yingchun, Pan Yanjun, Feng Zhaoxian, Feng Jingqin, Li Kunhua

Contractor: Wiki World 

Location: Yichang, Hubei province, China

Client: Hubei Yunhua cultural and touristic development

Area: 1000m2

Year: 2019-2020

Concept: Build as nature

Mountain&Cloud Cabin is designed and built by WikiWorld+Advanced Architecture Lab. The leading architect Mu Wei has his living experiences in Norway and the beautiful mountain site reminds him the Norwegian aurora: You can never order nature, besides you become part of it. We try to design and build as nature: cabins seem to come from the future, but disappear in the nature. They are the viewfinders of nature and breathe freely in the forest.

The project consist of 18 timber cabins as hotel rooms, a cafe house and a swimming pool. The project includes five different types of cabins, ranging in area from 35 square meters to 65 square meters. 

The timber cabins adopt a split and single-family design, floating in clouds with point foundations. The facade of the cabin adopts reflective metal materials, real-time mapping of the four seasons, the building exists and merges with nature.

Breath and floating in nature

Inspired by nature and the diversity of tea fields and mountains, we have designed unique architectural spaces: bridges in the valleys, spaceships in the woods, viewfinders in the tea fields, and stacked building on the hillside.

We like natural architecture. The main structure adopts the german HBE CLT prefabricated system. The main structure can be assembled in one day. The wooden cabin uses a floor heating system and a fresh air system with an air exchange rate of 100 cubic meters per hour. Energy consumption and somatosensory design make the cabin a container for breathing in nature.

The type bridge cabin across the tea valley is a 14-meter-long wooden bridge suspended above the tea field and enjoys a courtyard terrace; the spacecraft-like type LOFT in the woods is a vertical loft-type, a 14-meter-high building with two floors of living and master bedrooms; type T&Y cabin floating in the field is a wooden house with a viewfinder layout. The bathroom, bedroom and living room face the mountain view of Deng Village where you can see beautiful sunset and clouds.

Prefabrication: wooden structure and sustainability

The overall planning and design fully respects the terrain and the environment. The 18 wooden cabins are placed lightly on the mountain like wood cube toy. The point foundation and inverted umbrella-shaped columns bring minimal damage to the environment and allow the wooden cabins to float in the forest. The wooden cabin structure adopts the matured HBE glue laminated timber panels system. Its advantages are the low deformation rate of the wood and high structural strength. The overall assembly accuracy of this structural system ensures that all parts of the wooden house can be produced at the same time according to the drawings.  

The wooden cabin formulates structure and building form according to the standards of energy-saving buildings to ensure a longer service life and comfortable use of the internal space. All wooden cabins are equipped with hotel intelligence, air conditioners, water heaters, and fresh air system. Some cabins are equipped with fireplaces to create different holiday experiences.

The interior is configured in a Nordic minimalist style. The interior is mainly based on the original wood texture directly presented by timber to create a natural and refined holiday atmosphere.

The facade of the building mainly uses mirrored metal plates and wooden grilles. The incomplete reflection of the mirror surface can make the wooden cabin blend into the environment well. It can be hidden from time to time in the unique dense fog landscape in the mountains, giving the tea garden a quiet and mysterious .