The Temple House by Make Architects

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The Temple House is Make’s second project with Swire Hotels, following the successful launch of the Montpellier Chapter Hotel in Cheltenham, and the third hotel in Swire’s portfolio, following The Upper House in Hong Kong and The Opposite House in Beijing. Located in the heart of Chengdu, one of China’s key centres of finance and commerce, the Temple House aims for a high degree of comfort and facilities, and a welcoming, well-embedded “local” quality.

Image © John Madden

The design was not a linear process. It was an iterative dialogue with Swire Hotels which made the process much more interesting. We could look at the design holistically and this created a really dynamic relationship between the design of the hotel’s external and internal spaces.

– Katy Ghahremani – Make partner and lead architect

Image Courtesy of Make Architects

The main design trigger was the location of Chengdu itself – with its rich history, celebrated traditions and lush landscape. The entrance to the hotel is a beautifully restored Qing Dynasty heritage building, located at the corner of the site. The hotel embraces a typical Siheyuan or ‘courtyard house’ design, featuring a sequence of courtyard gardens bordered by two L-plan medium rise buildings. The first building houses 100 hotel rooms, while the other 42 serviced apartments.

Image Courtesy of Make Architects

We want people to come to Chengdu and have a unique hotel experience, one they couldn’t have in Hong Kong or Beijing. The hotel is unique to Chengdu, and unique in Chengdu.

– Brian Williams – Managing Director of Swire Hotels

Image Courtesy of Make Architects

The hotel main facilities are reached through the heritage building’s internal two-storey high courtyard that lead to the reception area. A sculptural grand staircase leads guests to the main hotel through a landscaped courtyard level. Located here are covered routes to the lift-cores for the hotel rooms and apartments, as well as an array of restaurants, cafes, and other general facilities.

Image Courtesy of Make Architects

Throughout the design process, Make and Swire Hotels undertook rigorous testing of visual and experiential possibilities relating to surface textures, internal light and shadow effects, and interior views. The city-facing and internal courtyard-facing facades were given entirely different treatments; the former is essentially solid and brick-built, the latter are sheer curtain-walls of subtly fritted glass, which maximize the reflection of light into the courtyard.

Image © John Madden

The city-facing brick facades of the hotel and apartment segments were inspired by the local production of brocade, with façade panels formed of brick and black solid reconstituted stone lintel elements. The three-dimensional woven façade combines modern design with the traditional Chengdu architectural elements of timber, brick and step stones.

The light-wells embedded in the courtyard layer, organically shaped in plan and stepped in section, are reminiscent of the terraced paddy fields of Sichuan’s steep hillsides when seen from beneath. The terracing effect was echoed even more dramatically in the design of the grand staircase that connects the ground floor reception area to the courtyard.

Image Courtesy of Make Architects

The Temple House forms part of Chengdu’s Daci Temple Cultural and Commercial Complex, a large-scale mixed-use development by Sino-Ocean Land and Swire Properties, in one of the city’s many rapidly developing urban areas.