Scale is important to the success of landscape architecture projects saturated in visible local heritages. It requires humble interpretation of the relationship between traditional design methodology and functions of modern space.

The Yangshuo Banyan Tree Resort is one of Banyan Tree’s previously boutique resort and spa collections in China. It is located in the world-renowned Guilin scenic area along the Li River. The project includes over 130 suite rooms and villas, a SPA house, dining areas and other supporting facilities.

The project covers a land area of 7.1 hectares, inspired by and concentrated in the design the characters of Guilin’s local residential architecture heritage. The resort lies in the surrounding mountains and rivers, therefore harmonizes the nature scenery into the creation of the built environment, providing an atmosphere of peaceful and simplistic traditional Chinese water-ink painting. The villas are hidden in the flourishing bamboos, and the open sky decorates the night scenes with sparking stars. Townhouses are introduced as a form of residence to reproduce layout of clusters in country villages. Functional facilities such as dining cafeteria, lounge and SPA are placed on top of the slope of the site to enable breathtaking views of sunset on the river.

AECOM provided landscape architecture design for this project, working across but collaboratively with multidisciplinary design teams of the architecture design, interior design, and lighting from other firms. The design concept focused on symbolizes local cultural heritage to create humanistic scale integrated to the surrounding environment. The design also connected traditional gardening methods and modern space uses.