If Hobbits built a luxury hotel, it would probably look something like the new design concept from Stefano Boeri Architetti’s (SBA) hill-inspired Mountain Forest Hotel, a 250-room vertical forest that appears to grow right out of the surrounding landscape.
According to SBA’s website, this is actually SBA’s third vertical forest design, the first prototype appearing in Milan, which was then followed up with The Tower of the Cedars in Lausanne, Switzerland. While the Mountain Forest Hotel uses many of the same design principles as those previous efforts, the hotel has been specifically designed from and inspired by Guizhou, China’s topography, an area known as the 10 thousand peaks valley. The specific design of the hotel looks to reconstruct a former hill that was flattened out years ago.
SBA does not view these vertical forests as a gimmick or a novelty, but, instead, a necessity. “The symbiosis between man, architecture and nature is the real sustainability,” SBA writes about the project on its website. “Following the first prototype in Milan, then in Lausanne, the Vertical Forest is continuously consolidated as a model for a sustainable urbanization.”
Symbiosis and sustainability may be the key, but this is still designed as a luxury hotel, meaning it includes such features as a gym, lounge, VIP area, bar, restaurant, and conference room.
Rendering courtesy of Stefano Boeri Architetti
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Sep 9, 2022
Top 70 Hotel Sector Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jensen Hughes, Jacobs, WSP, and Kimley-Horn top the ranking of the nation's largest hotel and resort sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 8, 2022
Top 115 Hotel Sector Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
Gensler, WATG, HKS, and Stantec top the ranking of the nation's largest hotel and resort sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Hotel Facilities | Aug 12, 2022
Denver builds the nation’s first carbon-positive hotel
Touted as the nation’s first carbon-positive hotel, Populus recently broke ground in downtown Denver.
Hotel Facilities | Jul 28, 2022
As travel returns, U.S. hotel construction pipeline growth follows
According to the recently released United States Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the total U.S. construction pipeline stands at 5,220 projects/621,268 rooms at the close of 2022’s second quarter, up 9% Year-Over-Year (YOY) by projects and 4% YOY by rooms.
Hotel Facilities | May 31, 2022
Checking out: Tips for converting hotels to housing
Many building owners are considering repositioning their hotels into another property type, such as senior living communities and rental apartments. Here's advice for getting started.
Sponsored | Multifamily Housing | May 8, 2022
Choosing the right paver system for rooftop amenity spaces
This AIA course by Hoffmann Architects offers best practices for choosing the right paver system for rooftop amenity spaces in multifamily buildings.
Sponsored | BD+C University Course | May 3, 2022
For glass openings, how big is too big?
Advances in glazing materials and glass building systems offer a seemingly unlimited horizon for not only glass performance, but also for the size and extent of these light, transparent forms. Both for enclosures and for indoor environments, novel products and assemblies allow for more glass and less opaque structure—often in places that previously limited their use.
Hotel Facilities | Apr 25, 2022
U.S. hotel construction pipeline up 2%, with 5,090 projects in the works
The total U.S. hotel construction pipeline stands at 5,090 projects and 606,302 rooms at the end of the first quarter of 2022, up 2% by projects, but down 3% by rooms, according to the Q1 2022 Construction Pipeline Trend Report for the United States from Lodging Econometrics (LE).
Hotel Facilities | Apr 12, 2022
A virtual hotel to open in the metaverse
A brand of affordable luxury hotels that launched in 2008, citizenM has announced it will purchase a digital land site in The Sandbox, a virtual game world owned by Animoca Brands.
