A new villa hotel complex next to the Great Wall of China is a surprising showcase for the best of Asia design talent.
The farmers who worked in Shuiguan Valley, a landscape of rocks and walnut trees in the shadow of the Great Wall of China, gave up on it years ago. But this month sees fresh signs of growth, with the opening of a new high-end villa hotel complex designed by an all-star cast of Asia design talent.
The Commune by the Great Wall offers 11 villas (with a total of 63 rooms) and a communal pavilion including two restaurants, a swimming pool, a cinema and galley space. The complex is accessed via a winding mountain road and is just under an hour's drive from Beijing.
The origins of this unusual project go back to the late 1990s. For a number of years two young Beijing developers, Pan Shiyi and his wife Zhang Xin, had watched the growth and increasing spending powers of China's wealthy elite, and felt the time was right to exploit a gap in the real-estate market.
In early 2001 they bought an eight-square-kilometre plot of land beneath the Great Wall at Badaling. It was one of the few remaining sites both within sight of the wall and a manageable drive from Beijing. Their dream was to create a community of luxury holiday houses. "After decades of socialism, people don't have a tradition of home ownership," says Zhang Xin. "We want to arouse people's imaginations."
The hotel, whose name refers to the days of state oppression, is the first phase of the masterplan. Phase two comprises a further 40 houses which will be available to buy from June 2003. The first 12 buildings give a sense of what the final community of 52 houses will look like.
So what will confront guests at the Commune by the Great Wall? Shiyi and Xin simply asked the architects to be as flamboyant as possible. They haven't disappointed. With walls of live bamboo and pillars of reinforced cardboard, the Commune by the Great Wall would test the preconceptions of design purists anywhere. In the barren hills of Badaling, it's a revelation.
The US$24-million hotel is the work of 12 of the most promising young architects from across Asia. The houses range from 250-500 square metres, and make maximum use of the stunning views the site lies within the preservation area that prohibits construction within 200 metres of the wall. The buildings are scattered along a winding road, with the communal pavilion marking the entrance to the site.
Shiyi and Xin hope that following a stay at the Great Wall, curious tourists and China's wealthy elite will be tempted to invest in a phase-two house next year. Prices are expected to start at around US$1.2 million, although interest has been at such a level that, in Beijing, rumours of prices closer to US$2 million are commonplace. To put this in context,US$1.2 million is more than 1,000 times the average urban household's annual income.
Interest in the project is widespread. A dinner party to celebrate the completion of the first house earlier this year was attended by Alanna Heiss, director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, and Dr Uli Sigg, the former Swiss Ambassador to China and a collector of contemporary Chinese Art.
You'll need to move quickly to book a room, let alone buy a phase-two property.
For more information, visit www.panshiyi.com/english. Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin will be presenting the Commune by the Great Wall at La Biennale di Venezia, 8th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice from 8 September. For more information, visit www.labiennale.org.
The farmers who worked in Shuiguan Valley, a landscape of rocks and walnut trees in the shadow of the Great Wall of China, gave up on it years ago. But this month sees fresh signs of growth, with the opening of a new high-end villa hotel complex designed by an all-star cast of Asia design talent.
The Commune by the Great Wall offers 11 villas (with a total of 63 rooms) and a communal pavilion including two restaurants, a swimming pool, a cinema and galley space. The complex is accessed via a winding mountain road and is just under an hour's drive from Beijing.
The origins of this unusual project go back to the late 1990s. For a number of years two young Beijing developers, Pan Shiyi and his wife Zhang Xin, had watched the growth and increasing spending powers of China's wealthy elite, and felt the time was right to exploit a gap in the real-estate market.
In early 2001 they bought an eight-square-kilometre plot of land beneath the Great Wall at Badaling. It was one of the few remaining sites both within sight of the wall and a manageable drive from Beijing. Their dream was to create a community of luxury holiday houses. "After decades of socialism, people don't have a tradition of home ownership," says Zhang Xin. "We want to arouse people's imaginations."
The hotel, whose name refers to the days of state oppression, is the first phase of the masterplan. Phase two comprises a further 40 houses which will be available to buy from June 2003. The first 12 buildings give a sense of what the final community of 52 houses will look like.
So what will confront guests at the Commune by the Great Wall? Shiyi and Xin simply asked the architects to be as flamboyant as possible. They haven't disappointed. With walls of live bamboo and pillars of reinforced cardboard, the Commune by the Great Wall would test the preconceptions of design purists anywhere. In the barren hills of Badaling, it's a revelation.
The US$24-million hotel is the work of 12 of the most promising young architects from across Asia. The houses range from 250-500 square metres, and make maximum use of the stunning views the site lies within the preservation area that prohibits construction within 200 metres of the wall. The buildings are scattered along a winding road, with the communal pavilion marking the entrance to the site.
Shiyi and Xin hope that following a stay at the Great Wall, curious tourists and China's wealthy elite will be tempted to invest in a phase-two house next year. Prices are expected to start at around US$1.2 million, although interest has been at such a level that, in Beijing, rumours of prices closer to US$2 million are commonplace. To put this in context,US$1.2 million is more than 1,000 times the average urban household's annual income.
Interest in the project is widespread. A dinner party to celebrate the completion of the first house earlier this year was attended by Alanna Heiss, director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, and Dr Uli Sigg, the former Swiss Ambassador to China and a collector of contemporary Chinese Art.
You'll need to move quickly to book a room, let alone buy a phase-two property.
For more information, visit www.panshiyi.com/english. Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin will be presenting the Commune by the Great Wall at La Biennale di Venezia, 8th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice from 8 September. For more information, visit www.labiennale.org.
