various associates tops chinese beach club with bamboo canopies

various associates completes nature-infused luxury beach club

Inspired by its engulfing landscape and infused with an energetic sense of vitality, Various Associates has revamped luxury hotel The Sanya EDITION’s beach club with a fresh new identity ingrained in nature. Located on the coast of China’s Haitang Bay, the space unveils an unprecedented leisure experience amid a lush bed of coconut groves, creating an elegant yet cozy social venue for resort-goers on the beach.

Embracing Sanya’s picturesque environment, Various Associates devised an ‘Under the Trees’ design concept which indulges its guests in the passion of Hainan Island from day to night. The beach club is defined by lush greenery, organic tones and textures, and soft lighting, topped by a sculptural wave of bamboo-woven structures. Arranged in different heights and forms, the five-tree like canopies seem to organically emerge from a bed of plants on the ground, overlapping above guest facilities to create intimate yet open spaces for mingling and unwinding.

an unprecedented leisure experience amid a lush bed of coconut groves | all images by SFAP

woven bamboo trees shelter beach-goers

Throughout the space, Various Associates makes use of natural materials and textures for a warm atmosphere that evokes the image of the tropical island city. Woven natural bamboo and wood build up the canopy structures meanwhile recycled pebble-wash creates light textured pavements, which together contribute to a sustainable design project committed to environmental protection.

Through low-impact design interventions, the organically curving bamboo canopies undulate to generate a spatial rhythm in dialogue with nature, merging with the hotel’s lush landscapes and echoing the expansive azure Haitang Bay. Scattered around sunken seating booths, the engulfing woven structures create shelter for an intimate retreat, while their open connecting spaces bring glimpses of nature into view. At the center of the site, the architects set up a main bar in the shape of a giant tree trunk, generating an organic circulation around the structure and space.

diffused light emits upwards from the bamboo trunks invigorating the space with an elegant ambience

Through the tightly interwoven structures and their intricate gaps and textures, sunshine penetrates through in the daytime creating dynamic displays of light and shadow. After the sun sets, night life awakens and diffused light emits upwards from the bamboo trunks invigorating the space with an elegant atmospheric ambience. With the lights turned on, the steel skeleton wrapped in bamboo strips, which stretches like the patterns of a leaf, reveals itself to the guests and renders the canopy into a giant banana leaf. Meanwhile. the expansive canopies wrap up the light and separate it from other areas of the hotel to preserve a sense of tranquility throughout the beach club.

Various Associates has revamped luxury hotel The Sanya EDITION’s beach club with a fresh new identity

a social landmark along haitang bay’s coastline

Hoping to refresh and activate their outdoor beach area, The Sanya EDITION hotel wanted to introduce a young, fashionable lifestyle and social activities to the otherwise somewhat deserted space and turn it into a landmark in Haitang Bay. Various Associates renewed beach club provides a strong connection among different activity areas in the surroundings and forms a rendezvous brimming with vigor and joy. Bar goers, guests taking a sunbath, swimmers and volleyball players are united under the tree like canopies and open space.

scattered around sunken seating booths, the woven structures create shelter for an intimate retreat