Text description provided by the architects
The COHL Nanhang Mingzhu Grand Hotel is located on the north bank of the Hengqin Free Trade Zone in Zhuhai, facing the new Hengqin district to the south and Macau in the distance. As a new core of Zhuhai, the site is next to the Shizimen station of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity rail, with the Financial Island station connecting seamlessly to the Hengqin Tunnel, Hengqin Bridge and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge expressway. To the north lies Baimian General Mountain and to the south the Stone Park, with the Xijiang River nearby. The design takes its inspiration from the soaring aeroplane and the lively waterfront harbour, fusing corporate identity and local character into the public space under a single, unified theme. The narrative of a boy and a paper aeroplane runs through landscape, architecture and interior as one language: walking through a forested green valley above the clouds, the visitor searches for the paper plane of childhood and recovers an aviation dream. Modern, minimal design tools organise the landscape around a resort-like hotel experience. The masterplan is structured as one belt, one core and one loop: the outer extension belt establishes the civic presence, the hotel entry core dramatises arrival, and the roof-garden loop delivers resort atmosphere. The hotel block sits between South Sea Avenue and Baosheng Road, adjacent to Baoqin Road, with noisy construction sites to the east and south; synthetic grass hoardings screen these nuisances while the west-side municipal greenbelt is upgraded into the hotel's external show facade. At the arrival, a branded feature wall and richly planted groups reinforce presence and the arrival experience, integrating landscape, architecture and interior into one gesture. The hotel lobby entry is staged as takeoff and flight, a departure into the sky and a free search for dream, carrying the project's paper-plane identity from the city street all the way into the building.