Tongli, Blossom Hill Inn, Tongli, China
Client: Blossom Hill Inns & Resorts
The gardens of a boutique hotel on the grounds of a historic Western-style private girls’ school within the ancient Chinese water town of Tongli were organised as a narrative metaphor about the development of a young girl to full self-realisation and citizenship.
Services Provided:
Design Director, Concept through Construction for Watershed, 2012-2013
- lead designer and project director, concept – implementation
- client presentations
- construction observation
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The garden is subdivided very rationally into discrete classroom-like spaces, The view to the right is of the multi-purpose pavilion overlooking a sunken lawn and the science table overlooking the traditional Chinese medicine herb collection.
The black vulcanite chemistry table fitted with stainless steel chemistry equipment as a centrepiece overlooks the sunken botanical garden featuring labeled culinary and medicinal herbs with important connotations in Chinese culture and tradition.
At the furthest end of the project is the Art Alley, a part of the thousand-year-old water town of Tongli faithfully preserved, with an equally faithfully copied Jackson Pollack painting on the new concrete floor.