Alila Yangshuo Sugar House

Alila Yangshuo Sugar House sits in a karst landscape by the Li River in Yangshuo, Guangxi, one of the most representative karst regions. The site is rich in natural scenery and preserves an old sugar mill from the 1960s and an industrial truss used then to transport sugarcane. To protect the Li River ecology, the mill was shut down in the 1980s; fortunately its buildings survived. Against a backdrop of slowing economic growth, the old mill is treated as a memory and emotional carrier of a generation, and defined as the core leader of the future hotel complex. In layout, standard guest-room buildings and villas occupy the wings of the old mill, so the mill and truss sit on the central axis of the hotel group. A landscaped fire-water pool reflects the old factory, reinforcing its monumentality. In materials, the design seeks a quiet continuity between old and new rather than simple copying, using concrete hollow blocks and local stone.