Nestled in Wuyuan County in Jiangxi province, the Skywells hotel sits on a 300-year-old Huizhou-style property that blends the grace of ancient China with the luxury of a 21st century hotel. Named after regional architectural feature Tian Jing, the narrow courtyards pulling sunlight into the rooms, the hotel involved extensive repairs of heritage features, in particular, the ornate carved timber frames. For this, the team painstakingly searched for and recruited talented local artisans skilled in centuries-old crafts.
To improve lighting conditions in the interior rooms without adversely affecting the original aesthetic of the building, the team installed windows with elegantly carved frames on the walls facing the Skywells. The color scheme for the interiors utilizes warm and cool neutrals, with the spare bold accent color to brighten up rooms without compromising their elegance. The guiding principle when restoring the estate was to honor the Qing era design, and add structural and functional amenities that tastefully blended into the original design and look of the building.
