Nanjing, China
Located northeast of the Horticultural Expo in Jiangsu and surrounded by a large natural lake and cliff on the south side, the Radisson Collection Resort by the College of Architecture and Urban Planning department of Tongji University is an understanding of the landscape of the site integrating the design into the natural construction.
The Radisson Collection Resort project has been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Chinese gardens on the west side, natural mountains on the east side, and an entrance plaza on the north side.
The terrain’s diversity leads to a distinctive, multilayered natural ecosystem.
The linear folding interface redefines the boundaries of the urban garden, giving the Radisson Hotel a hidden and rigid landscape layout strategy of “great completion is lacking, great lack is becoming.”
The slope of the hotel and the folded boundary form a staggered layer, which together with the trees in the garden reflect each other, and achieve dialogue and harmony between architecture and the environment.
The entrance of the Radisson Hotel is set on a high platform with a 3M height difference south of Nantong Garden in the urban exhibition park, which is actually the background.
When standing on the road to the east of the hotel, even though the road is winding, the lush foliage of the entrance tree is not hidden for a moment but is instead highlighted beyond the building volume, creating a sense of asymmetrical order and the moody painting of “a tree becomes a forest” at the entrance.
The north façade of the Radisson Hotel is in gray tones, with a roof of gray tiles and a long scroll of gray robotic bricks, reflecting the lush style of the Expo Park, with a balance between soft and rigid, and looking at each other.
The entrance canopy is emphasized as a reinforcement of the sense of order, expecting the entrance to be “remote” while still meeting the needs of visitors’ vehicles to escape from the rain, requiring a smooth corridor space and the idea of architectural-structural integration, finally unified in the Kangaroo dynamic simulation of the conceptual birth form of the protruding corridor.
However, the optimal solution in terms of morphology was difficult to achieve due to the structural properties of the wood structure of the roof.
Finally, through the cooperation of the structural engineers, a column-less gable structure with a span of 28 meters and an average depth of 8 meters was completed by using two steel cables after balancing the shape of the roof on top of the pressure stack.
The intentionally reserved gutterless eaves at the entrance form a waterfall falling on rainy days due to the recessed form, creating a natural and elegant scene interacting with the lone tree and pond at the entrance.
Entering the lobby of Radisson Hotel, the project intends to continue the sense of “long-distance” traversal, wishing to guide people at the end of the lobby through the floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the focal point of the Expo Park, the “Jingyang Tower”.
Meanwhile, the general plan adapts and extends the winding interface, and draws on the landscape so that it can also take in the meandering road, water system, deep valley, hidden mountain, and lake.
The lobby space echoes the concept of “one tree becomes a forest” at the entrance, and through the coupling calculation of structural mechanics and morphology, the double curved roof space intention of “one column blooms” of nearly 2000 square meters is realized.
The interaction between machines and humans in terms of emotion, thinking, memory, and even creative intent was achieved, which is a milestone in how to connect virtual design and material intelligence in this post-humanistic era.
The practice, of presenting traditional memories with the technology of the times, and breaking the shackles and conventions with the new spirit of the post-humanistic era, is perhaps the most unforgettable experience brought by the project.
Project: Radisson Collection Resort
Architects: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University
Lead Architect: Philip F. Yuan
General Contractor: China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co., Ltd
Client: Jiangsu Horticultural Expo Construction and Development Co., LTD
Photographers: Schran Image, Wongke
