Archive for category: Architecture

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Heatherwick Studio has revealed the design for The British School in Tokyo. This school will be the  largest international school in the heart of the city. The school will open in August 2023 as part of the Azabudai Hills development, this will be the first school the Studio has designed anywhere in the  world.

Commissioned by Toranomon-Azabudai District Urban Redevelopment Association, of which Mori  Building Co., Ltd. and Japan Post Holdings are leading participants, the school comprises of 15,000  sqm, with outdoor learning and recreational spaces spread across eight levels, interspersed with trees  and nature. The building will be able to host over 800 students from more than 50 countries, offering  a British educational curriculum to the international community of Tokyo.

Neil Hubbard, partner and Group Leader at Heatherwick Studio said:

“Most inner-city schools don’t have enough playground space and the site was quite restricted. So we  wedged playgrounds between each of the classrooms, creating outdoor learning spaces where pupils  can explore and interact with each other and their teachers much more freely than in traditional  school environments. The brick spandrels nod to the materiality of the historic Azabudai post office  and undulate to create open balconies and variety along the elevation. It’s a little bit playful, like a  school should be.”

Instead of rows of vertically stacked classrooms, outdoor spaces create social spaces where students  and teachers can work together. Planted balconies will be cared for by the students and overlapping  terraces cascade down to provide views of the surrounding area where the building meets the central  garden landscape.

The design takes full advantage of the local climate with a seamless flow from the indoors to the  outdoors. Beyond the classrooms, the site also includes shared areas for independent and group  learning, two libraries, a suite of music studios, an art studio, a Science, Technology, Engineering and  Mathematics (STEM) centre, two sports pitches, a dance studio, a sports hall and an indoor swimming  pool.

The school is part of a recently announced Azabudai Hills development, that has taken a community focused approach to development, working with the local communities throughout this remarkable  process of regeneration. In addition to the school, the studio has designed the public realm and lower level podium architecture including a generous 6,000m² central landscaped square. This exceptional  new public district has been designed to nurture and engage communities; welcoming residents,  businesses, school children and visitors to a district with amazing social spaces filled with lush greenery  that can be cherished for generations to come. It’s estimated that twenty-five to thirty million people  per year are expected to visit the area.

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A research by McKinsey experts estimated that the global wellness market now stands beyond $1.5 trillion. Hence, today’s hospitality leaders have to consider ways to merge wellness and landscape in their imaginative designs of the future of hospitality.

Landscape Architects at WATG have identified environmental or ecological assets of the hotel or resort property, and design ideas, to become part of the holistic guest experience:

Landscape design that integrates wellness and sustainability has the power to significantly enhance a hotel or resort guest’s experience, and the property’s bottom line.

Landscaped spaces get people to move from inside to outside, and according to research published in the journal Nature, “spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing,” improving sleep, breathing, motivation, immune function, and overall emotional wellbeing. Such tangible results further bond the guest with nature – and with your property.

When people feel connected to the land, the health of both improves, so we must weave their stories together from the start. We can identify the environmental or ecological assets of the hotel or resort property, and design ways for them to become part of the holistic guest experience, creating education, awareness and understanding between the guest and nature.

This approach also helps the property owner and operator shift beyond the status quo of sustainability and have an even bigger, regenerative impact on the ecosystem that surrounds them – especially as the guest starts to understand the role they play in this regeneration.

Consider these seven ways that landscape can become an integral part of a hotel or resort’s wellness program, and influence its environmental impact as well.

1. Outdoor Fitness

Fitness trails, yoga pavilions, meditation gardens, kids play areas and exercise lawns all encourage guests to move from the indoor gym to the outdoors. Consider gardens or green spaces that are adjacent to and directly accessed from the interior gym, offering space for steps or pushups, and extending the amenity and its usage. Outdoor fitness classes, presented in partnership with local experts, can become a source of revenue, too.

2. The Four Elements: Fire, Water, Air and Earth

The elements can be integrated to heighten the guest experience. Water and fire are often presented in tandem to illustrate nature’s balance. Kneipp walking – named for the 19th century priest Sebastian Kneipp who is known to have cured his own tuberculosis after several months of hydrotherapy – alternates between exposures to hot and cold water. We’ve recently considered this approach for a resort located in a region where snow and thermal springs are equally abundant, rejuvenating guests with the experience of both cold and hot sensations. Both inside and outside, water features can be used to soften ambient noise and create a sense of tranquility, while fire exemplifies nature’s power, and to nurture social connections reminiscent of campfire gatherings.

Bringing natural ventilation and fresh air into indoor-outdoor spaces can not only benefit guest and employee wellbeing, but also help to control energy costs. And the earth plays a role in reflexology. Consider the healthful effects of walks along nature trails, including opportunities for guests to walk, barefoot if they choose, along different textures of pebbles, sand, bark or grass.

3. Light

Trees can be selected not only to enhance shading and its cooling effect, but also to create the soothing effect of dappled light. The sun can become a natural centerpiece as well, with gardens or sculptural elements designed to frame views of sunsets or sunrises. Moon gardens, typically featuring fragrant white flowers or other night bloomers that reflect moonlight, offer guests activities after dark, again extending their use of hotel amenities.

4. Chromotherapy

Rooted in the ancient Chakra system, with colors corresponding to the body’s seven main chakras, color gardens with plants and flowers that showcase different colors through different seasons can enhance the guest’s journey through outdoor spaces. Red is considered grounding, for example, while yellow provides a boost to self-esteem, and indigo sparks imagination.

5. Aromatherapy

Scented plants, such as lilac or lily of the valley, and herbs, such as rosemary or lavender also promote wellness and can be planted along paths or trails to encourage meandering and enhance the guest journey. Consider incorporating educational components into the design too, encouraging guests to slow down and pause to read about the way different plants are used in wellness or cooking applications.

Color and aroma are often considered together, with regionally relevant plants and trees such as cherry or jacaranda trees that become natural attractions when they bloom. Using a wide variety of colorful and fragrant plants – outfitted with beehives and/or bug hotels – are also effective at attracting birds and pollinators, contributing to the property’s biodiversity and habitat regeneration.

6. Agriculture

Food and farming offer an important connection to the land

scape. Consider how and why foods are grown and used locally, and this becomes a meaningful – and marketable – part of the hotel or resort’s story. We are currently researching how much space a resort farm requires in order to grow enough food to satisfy most (if not all) of the property’s F&B service, but even urban boutique hotels can have a huge impact. Culinary gardens require very little space and can range from interior herb walls, rooftop beehives and terrace cocktail gardens all the way to full-scale organic farms at larger resorts. Properties can also partner with neighboring agricultural providers when their own space is limited, while reserving on-site space for events, artisan and farmers markets, farm dinners and more help to monetize the landscape.

7. Programs for Kids

Offering family-friendly amenities is another way to enhance a hotel or resort’s revenue potential. Outdoor spaces for children’s wellness, including healthy and fun fitness programs, spa treatments, nature play or other outdoor exploration, can set the stage for kids’ long-term love of nature.

At any scale, and at every age, guests can enjoy unique and immersive experiences with nature and form bonds that keep them coming back for more. For example, a program where guests are invited to plant seeds in the resort’s garden or farm, encourages them to return the following season to see (or even eat) the physical results of their efforts.

Landscape needs to be part of the strategy and design from the start. Showing a client images of wellness programs like those described here will quickly illuminate opportunities to enrich the guest experience and monetize a hotel or resort’s landscape. Consider that most operators and managers will also be locals, so the stories of a region’s ecology are their own stories too, and they’ll be motivated to help tell them.

Landscape has always been about wellness and sustainability and yet is now, finally, being recognized for the substantial impact it can have on a hotel or resort’s profitability. Landscape is an asset and an amenity – a critical component in the carefully orchestrated guest experience.

 

 

 

About the author

Ashley Scott is a Master Planner and Landscape Architect with more than twenty-five years of experience in design management and thought leadership. His portfolio of work represents a wide range of resort project types and scales, and spans Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Prior to joining WATG in late 2019, Ashley was the Global Lead for the Resort Master Planning and Landscape Architecture sector of AECOM, where he managed a cohesive and experienced team of over seventy-five Master Planners and Landscape Architects in London and across the UK.

According to Mr. Ashley Scott, Director of Landscape at WATG, “Landscape is an asset and an amenity – a critical component in the carefully orchestrated guest experience.”

Consumers today are spending more on wellness than they ever have before and with the wellness industry continuing its growth at around five to 10 percent annually, hospitality leaders must continuously innovate for new ways of creating a wellness playground within their built environment.

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Completed in 2022, Aedas-designed Chongqing Gaoke Group Ltd Office Project utilises a simple elegant  form. It is derived from the northern light, which creates the twisting shape of the 180m tall tower to form  expressive double-curved surfaces on the building façades. Vertical lines accentuate the minimalistic form  and through the effect of reflection and refraction from the glass create a design statement that celebrates  light as the major tool to define architecture.

Glowing in ‘dance of light’ in a mountainous city

 

Stands at the north of Xingfu Plaza, the project is located in Jiangbei District of Chongqing. The surrounding  environment has already been developed in a spacious plot, and one big challenge for the designer is to  interpret planning concept of “solar”, into an iconic landmark well-integrated in the existing community context.

“As an open public space, the tower has all the credits to be a city icon, especially the significant twisting of  the façade is remarkable.” Inspired by the dancing aurora, Aedas Global Design Principal Ken Wai and his  team, has introduced an impressive façade design through bottom-to-top connections between northern  and eastern sides. The ‘dance of light’ is characterised by the juxtaposition of rectilinear forms and tower façades with double curves. Such curvaceous façade expression offers ever-changing perspectives around  the development. When the sun rises, the curved façade shines, and the tower becomes the building of light.  When night falls, the curved façade showcases reflections that allude to the dancing figure of a ballerina.  The podium roof extends a coherent statement of sliding twist from top to bottom, echoing with the  geometry of the tower and maintaining a consistent architectural style.

To achieve a very smooth transition of the glass façade, the design uses double-curved cold form glass  instead of the usual or more common faceted method. The maximum twisting angle is up to 8.8 degrees per  floor surpassing the existing super high-rise tower in the world by nearly 1.5 times (CTBUH Journal, 2016  Issue 3). It is expected to be one of “The Most Twisting Towers in the world”. Innovative façade technology  from façade engineer RFR empowers the precise execution of such challenging design. The area of the  hyperbolic curtain wall is about 8,000 square metres, and the number of hyperbolic curtain wall panels is as  many as 1,709.

The unique twisting results in a high double-curvature ratio, which poses a major challenge for the overall  façade system. The team and RFR joint hands to leverage the cold bend glass technique and BIM on  complex geometry façade for a magic solution. Such innovation is to adapt to the changing geometric

parameters and dimensions while fulfilling requirements on safety, waterproof and thermal performance. It  also ensures a consistent façade construction in line with BIM simulations. The system of cold bend glass  on the 3D frame façade component enables a maximum of 86mm in glass deviation between floors, realizing  a record-breaking design in China. From overall geometry analysis, façade component modelling & clash checking, LOD400 detail component modelling, automotive data exporting and auditing, 3D BIM has been  utilized throughout the entire façade design process. Through value engineering, a portion of the hyperbolic  glass with flat glass is successfully replaced that achieved savings in construction costs.

The architectural form uses twisted curved glass, leading each glass is different in size and degree of twist.  With a unique twisted façade and integration with landscape, the view of the tower varies from different  angles.

“The façade is not only an outlook expression, but also a way of protection that sculpts interior spaces.” Ken  explained. His delicate design has been articulated for the top of the tower, by conveying the conceptual  “Valley of Light” through the transparent glass façade and lightings, to make a coherent statement. Such concept differentiates the crown of this tower from other office spaces. The plant room, BMU and other  facilities are centralize inside the “Valley” on the top of the building, achieving functional unity without  undermining the visual aesthetics.

“As for the master layout, we have put thorough consideration to the surrounding environment and the  building volume. The tower is located of the left side of the mall, minimising the towering effect on the adjacent parts of the development, and establishing interactive connections in between. The tower sets  back northwards, to connect podium and the mall at the south. A variety of public space for civic leisure has  thus been created. The underpass to its west leads easy access to the existing shopping centre, as a  sensible approach to improve commercial value of underground space.” Ken said.