Boutique Hotel | MUTUAL ARCHITECTURE

The birth of Pure Way Thoughts · Carefree Wandering Boutique Hotel originated from the love between two young managers, who hope to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the city and find a place for their soul. Therefore, in 2016, the first Pure Way Thoughts was established on the southwest side of the visitor's dock in the Xihai Scenic Area, facing the Xihai lake. Primarily, it served as a holiday retreat and a place for the couple to delve into poetry, literature, and the dissemination of traditional Chinese culture. Incidentally, a few guest rooms were also set up to accommodate friends and students. At that time, the concept of a hotel had not yet fully materialized. At that time, just before the onset of the global pandemic, the country was experiencing a robust period of vacation and tourism, with an insatiable demand for accommodations. To meet the needs of a large number of enthusiasts of the Pure Way Thoughts brand, a plan for the construction of a second phase naturally came into being.

Location:

The new phase of Pure Way Thoughts is nestled within the Xihai Scenic Area of Lushan Mountain in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. The location is set amidst a vast expanse of tangerine orchards in a small town, adjacent to the shimmering lake waters. With its expansive views, it offers a direct embrace of the distant mountains and nearby waters, making it a rare secluded haven.

Although the site is surrounded by beautiful environment, the site itself is overgrown and barren with slight elevation differences. The current building is four levels with 3.9m openings and is in a rotten state. The building structure is of a mixed type, with the ground floor featuring a reinforced concrete frame structure, while the second to fourth floors are composed of a brick-concrete mix, a common local rural self-construction method that lacks scientific structural calculations. Given the current state of the structure, it falls significantly short in terms of the flexibility for space reconfiguration and the reserve for structural load-bearing capacity, making the reinforcement and optimization of the structure a substantial challenge. Additionally, the original building's external walls were closed off, creating a separation from the adjacent single-story building, and leaving the structure isolated within its site and environment. There is an urgent need to break this impasse and establish new spatial relationships that will better integrate the building into its surroundings.

Integration of site and nature:

The Core idea of the renovation was transforming the originally monotonous block volume, which served a single function, into a complex and layered spatial ensemble with multiple functions, turning the originally closed and isolated tube-like building into an open public architecture that blends with the site and the natural landscape. We adopted the strategy of horizontal decomposition, added a horizontal roof, the original four-level façade according to the ratio of 1:3 horizontal cut, not only solved the original incongruous architectural proportion problem, to obtain the extension of the tense space under the eaves, to respond to the sun and rain climate, and at the same time, delineate the "first floor of the space is opened", to provide the largest open space for the whole project. At the same time, the "opened first floor space" is delineated to provide the largest open public amenity area of the entire project, which becomes part of the landscaped courtyard. The second floor provides a horizontal private viewing platform, which brings the building closer to the conversation with the landscape.

Collecting mountains and seas:

"A spiritual home that collects the landscapes of mountains and seas." Despite the numerous challenges presented by the current state of the building, the design insists to the realization of an ideal vision. The intention is for all guests who visit to directly enjoy the beauty of the surrounding mountains and waters. To achieve this, all guest rooms and public activity spaces are oriented towards the most picturesque views.

In terms of spatial planning, service spaces are positioned facing the village to facilitate logistics and support operations. In the spatial planning, the service space, such as guest rooms, cafes, restaurants, libraries, and other public areas, are oriented towards the scenery. This arrangement ensures that these spaces capture the best possible views, with a range of 180° to 270° of unobstructed vistas.

The design of the guest room unfolds in a gradual manner, from the corridor to the door of the room, from the checkroom room to the viewing balcony, it is a spatial sequence and spiritual experience from privacy to openness, from movement to quietness, from darkness to lightness, and ultimately to the integration with the landscape.

Carefree Wandering:

According to the characteristics of the project and the operation idea, the manager put forward the theme concept of Zhuangzi's Carefree Wandering, hoping that in the nature, like Carefree Wandering, it can express an outlook on life in pursuit of absolute freedom, forgetting the boundaries of things and self and achieving the realm of selflessness, meritlessness and namelessness. Therefore, the project is characterized by the unconsciousness of Carefree Wandering and an openness without limits, focusing on the pursuit of spiritual fulfillment. It points towards nature, adopting a design tone that is simple, unadorned, and authentic, presenting the architectural style, space, and decoration in a state of simplicity and appropriateness.

[CHI]

思无邪精品酒店的诞生源于两个年轻主理人之间的爱情，希望能远离城市喧嚣，寻觅一处属于两人的心灵之所。于是于2016年在西海风景区游客码头西南侧，面对西海开设了第一个思无邪，主要是供两人度假及研究诗词歌赋，传播国学文化为目的，顺带开设了几间客房，用来接待友人和学生之用，酒店的概念还没有真正形成。可那时候正是全球疫情前，全国度假旅游旺盛时期，客房供不应求，为满足大量思无邪品牌爱好者的需求，自然就有了建设二期的计划。

新一期的思无邪坐落于江西省九江市庐山西海风景名胜区内，场地置身于小镇大片橘林之中，紧邻湖水碧光，视野开阔，可直接拥抱远山近水，是一块难得的避世之地。

虽然场地周边环境优美，但场地自身杂草丛生的荒芜，有微高差。现状建筑为四层，开间3.9米开间，烂尾状态。建筑结构是混合型，首层是钢筋混凝土框架结构，2-4楼是砖混结构，典型的当地乡村自建房做法，没有经过科学的结构计算。这样的结构现状，不论在改造空间划分的灵活度上还是在功结构荷载预留上都远远不够，在结构的加固及优化方面是一项巨大挑战。另外原建筑外墙封闭封闭，与一层小平房分离，孤立与场地与环境之中，我们急需打破僵局，建立新的场所关系。

改造的核心理念是将原本建筑单一功能所形成的单调方块体量转变成复合功能又富有层次的空间集合体，将封闭又孤立的筒子楼变成一个融合场地与自然山水的开放公共建筑。我们采用了水平分解的策略，添加了一个水平屋盖，将原本四层的立面按1：3比例水平切分，不仅解决了原本不协调的建筑比例问题，获得可延展的富有张力的檐下空间，回应日晒雨淋的气候问题，同时划分出“被打开的首层空间”，为整个项目提供了最大的开放式公共配套区域，成为景观庭院的一部分。二楼提供了一个水平私家观景平台，更好地拉近与山水对话的距离。

“一个收纳山海风景的精神家园”。即使建筑现状有诸多难题，设计坚持实现一个理想的愿景，希望所有来到这里的客人都能直接享受到这片山水，我们将所有的客房和公共活动空间朝向最优的风景面。空间规划上将服务空间面向村庄，方便后勤作业；被服务空间面向风景，让客房、咖啡厅、餐厅、图书馆与其它公共空间面向风景，获取180°—270°的最优观景视野。

客房设计以循序渐进的方式展开，从走廊到房门，从衣帽间间到观景阳台，是一个从私密到开放，由动到静，由暗到明、最终到与风景相融的空间序列与精神体验。

我们根据项目特征结合运营思路提出了庄子“逍遥游”的主题概念，希望在大自然当中能像“逍遥游”一样，表达一种追求绝对自由的人生观，忘却物我的界限，达到无己、无功、无名的境界，无所依凭而游于无穷。所以项目以逍遥游的无意识，不设限为特征，着重对精神层面的追求，指向自然，以朴实无华、克制真实为设计基调，以简洁适合的状态呈现建筑风貌，空间和装饰。

Design unit: Mutual architecture + Shangguan Design

Project Creator: Feng Yuhai Li Rizhong

Main designers: Zhang Xiao  liu Wenqian  Ou Xinyang  Lai Xinxing  Yuan Jian

Representative of Party A: Li Liang  gao Xia

Structural design: Deng Peng

Construction unit: Jiang Lei team

Photography: Meat Mountain