SI HE YUAN International Hotel

Si He Yuan International Hotel was commissioned by a local Malaysian developer and a Chinese investor who both have a feel for the Chinese courtyard house. The site is located on a forest area in Sepang—a 30-minute drive from the local international airport—that is in close proximity to a water theme park, an F1 circuit, a future international school and is surrounded by a safari park. This makes the hotel a strategic site in a touristic urban district. The project was further inspired and conceptualised by part of the painting scroll Qing Ming Shang He Tu, which expressed a sense of harmonious ties between humans, nature and built environment in the old Chinese streetscape.

The master plan recreated this milieu in a contemporary context. The development is divided into two phases. A shared green internal ring road cuts across the upper first phase and lower second phase of the hotel project. The vibrant central spine of commercial and cultural corridor starts with a waterfall, followed by a central reception tulou for commercial, entertainment and conventional activities, an amphitheatre for cultural events, and ends with the backdrop of a bell tower sitting on a lotus pond. Thirty-two units of the private contemporary hotel comprise different room types on both sides of the central corridor that will be run by separate hotel operators.

The surrounding Chinese garden features mainly water lotuses, bonsai, pine trees, fruit orchards, medicinal plants, willows and existing trees. The hotel modules were designed in a contemporary style and will use local materials such as timber and stone. Passive solutions such as cross ventilation, rainwater harvesting and Green water filtering will also be implemented.

Ultimately, the development aims to rebring a sense of Chinese-style harmony to visitors with well connected human-scale architecture, landscape design and a wide range of facilities.