Wuyuan Skywells

Located in a 300-year-old Huizhou-style property in rural East China’s Jiangxi Province, the Wuyuan Skywells hotel is  a feat of ingenuity, with Beijing firm anySCALE Architecture Design preserving and recovering many of the mansion’s original details. 

Adjacent to the main building is the modern glass and steel addition, which houses the restaurant. “We wanted to keep it contemporary and plain,” says Mika Woll, director at anySCALE Architecture Design. 

Since large parts of the internal timber frame were destroyed due to severe neglect, the design team engaged the services of local craftspeople to help bring it back to its original grandeur.

The main beam of the house, which was rotten and needed to be replaced, now tops the reception desk. 

Decoration is minimal to let original details standout, including Chinese characters from the cultural revolution that adorn whitewashed walls. “The building itself is so beautiful and intricate with wood carving that we didn’t feel like we needed to add a thing,” says Woll.

Guestrooms feature small windows (kept in tact to honor the original character of the building), so skylights and high-quality artificial lighting were added to brighten the space, while latticed panels on the walls preserve the original architecture.