flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Daring hotel design scheme takes the shape of cut amethyst stone

Daring hotel design scheme takes the shape of cut amethyst stone

The hotel symbolizes the regenerative properties amethyst stone is believed to have.


By BD+C Staff | January 20, 2015
Crystalline Amethyst Hotel Rendering NL Architects
Crystalline Amethyst Hotel Rendering NL Architects

The Dutch practice NL Architects designed a proposal for a chain of hotels shaped like a rock cut in half to reveal a gemstone inside, designboom reports. The first Amethyst Hotel is planned for a man-made island development called Ocean Flower in the China sea, north of Hainan.

“A large number of miraculous powers are attributed to the amethyst in all sorts of cultures,” the firm explains on its website. Positive attributes of the amethyst in several cultures include the capacity to purify spaces of negative vibrations and stengthen the immune system.

“All of these properties are most welcome in any hospitality or wellness environment,” the firm adds. “The Amethyst Hotel has the potential to become a [visual] symbol.”

According to the plan, the hotel units would be placed along one perimeter of the structure forming a horseshoe shape, leaving a courtyard in the middle. A faceted glass facade faces the courtyard, and reinforces the crystalline design theme. 

 

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Bowing to Tradition

As the home to Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals—the oldest theatrical company in the nation—12 Holyoke Street had its share of opening nights. In April 2002, however, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences decided the 1888 Georgian Revival building no longer met the needs of the company and hired Boston-based architect Leers Weinzapfel Associates to design a more contemporary facility.

| Aug 11, 2010

AIA course: MEP Technologies For Eco-Effective Buildings

Sustainable building trends are gaining steam, even in the current economic downturn. More than five billion square feet of commercial space has either been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program or is registered with LEED. It is projected that the green building market's dollar value could more than double by 2013, to as muc...

| Aug 11, 2010

BIM adoption tops 80% among the nation's largest AEC firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 survey

The nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction's premier Top 50 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey. Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, half have more than 30 seats, and near...

| Aug 11, 2010

Thrown For a Loop in China

While the Bird's Nest and Water Cube captured all the TV coverage during the Beijing Olympics in August, the Rem Koolhaas-designed CCTV Headquarters in Beijing—known as the “Drunken Towers” or “Big Shorts,” for its unusual shape—is certain to steal the show when it opens next year.

| Aug 11, 2010

Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building

The Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building houses the U.S. Attorney General's office, the Justice Department headquarters, and the largest historic art collection of any GSA-built facility, so its renovation had to be performed with the utmost care. Offices housing hundreds of lawyers and staff had to remain operational during the construction of a brand new $3.

| Aug 11, 2010

Silver Award: Please Touch Museum at Memorial Hall Philadelphia, Pa.

Built in 1875 to serve as the art gallery for the Centennial International Exhibition in Fairmount Park, Memorial Hall stands as one of the great civic structures in Philadelphia. The neoclassical building, designed by Fairmount Park Commission engineer Hermann J. Schwarzmann, was one of the first buildings in America to be designed according to the principles of the Beaux Arts movement.

| Aug 11, 2010

Bronze Award: Garfield High School, Seattle, Wash.

Renovations to Seattle's historic Garfield High School focused mainly on restoring the 85-year-old building's faded beauty and creating a more usable and modern interior. The 243,000-sf school (whose alumni include the impresario Quincy Jones) was so functionally inadequate that officials briefly considered razing it.

| Aug 11, 2010

Managing the K-12 Portfolio

In 1995, the city of New Haven, Conn., launched a program to build five new schools and renovate and upgrade seven others. At the time, city officials could not have envisioned their program morphing into a 17-year, 44-school, $1.5 billion project to completely overhaul its entire portfolio of K-12 facilities for nearly 23,000 students.

| Aug 11, 2010

Tall ICF Walls: 9 Building Tips from the Experts

Insulating concrete forms have a long history of success in low-rise buildings, but now Building Teams are specifying ICFs for mid- and high-rise structures—more than 100 feet. ICF walls can be used for tall unsupported walls (for, say, movie theaters and big-box stores) and for multistory, load-bearing walls (for hotels, multifamily residential buildings, and student residence halls).

| Aug 11, 2010

Financial Wizardry Builds a Community

At 69 square miles, Vineland is New Jersey's largest city, at least in geographic area, and it has a rich history. It was established in 1861 as a planned community (well before there were such things) by the utopian Charles Landis. It was in Vineland that Dr. Thomas Welch found a way to preserve grape juice without fermenting it, creating a wine substitute for church use (the town was dry).

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021