Haikou Bay Hotel | Descry Design
Haikou Bay Hotel by Shihi Chou

Haikou Bay Hotel

Golden A' Design Award Winner 2021

This aerial view presents a large-scale coastal resort complex rendered in high detail, showing two primary hotel buildings with distinctive wave-like architectural forms. Beginning with orientation, the image captures approximately one square kilometer of developed and natural landscape from a bird's-eye perspective looking roughly northward, with water occupying the lower right portion and urban development extending toward the hazy horizon. The two main buildings curve and undulate like gentle ocean swells, their surfaces appearing smooth and white with regularly spaced horizontal bands creating a layered, terraced appearance similar to stacked ribbons. The larger structure in the upper center rises perhaps twelve to fifteen stories, its roof featuring circular elements in warm gold tones suggesting gardens or gathering spaces. The smaller companion building to the lower left mirrors this organic vocabulary at reduced scale, embracing a circular pool that glows aquamarine like a tropical lagoon. Between and around these structures, dense groves of palm trees create textures like soft green-brown velvet, their fronds suggesting warmth and gentle tropical breezes. The waterfront along the right edge curves gracefully, with a sandy beach appearing as warm caramel adjacent to deep blue water that feels cool and refreshing. Small white vessels dot the water surface, suggesting calm conditions and leisurely maritime activity. A broad pedestrian promenade sweeps along the shore, its pale gray surface suggesting smooth stone or concrete, populated with tiny figures that establish the monumental scale of this development. The urban backdrop dissolves into atmospheric haze, towers becoming ghostly vertical forms in silvery gray, creating a dreamy, almost impressionistic quality that makes the foreground resort feel like an oasis of clarity and presence.

This impressive "dynamic with the flow" and iconic landmark hotel allows urban view porosities to embrace both city and ocean. Spiral and the sloping urban roof garden of the hotel's ballroom promotes urban pedestrians' access and various activities. Almost 300m long building is cut into segments to bring down the overwhelming street scale and avoid "the wall effect". Single loaded corridor and S shape building is designed to allow maximum building envelope for all rooms having ocean view, which also satisfies the challenging 50m building height limit.