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eijing-based architect Liu Honglei can trace her love for design to her childhood. She recalls that her mother and teachers discovered Liu’s talent for art and mathematics at an early age, and they encouraged her to nurture her gifts. While studying architecture at Tsinghua University, she met fellow architecture student Du Yun, who eventually became her husband and business partner. After graduation, the couple relocated to Toronto for five years and Liu cut her teeth working for interior design firms Yabu Pushelberg and II by IV. Though she found the experience inspirational and

rewarding, she yearned to do her own thing at a time when China was exploding with development opportunities.

Liu and Du set up BLVD while still in Toronto, and returned to Beijing a few years later to make it their home base. The couple has since opened a second studio in Shenzhen to handle projects in the southern half of China. While Liu is

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Liu Honglei (left), Du Yun

‘Situated on the peninsula of the new Cangxi City and direct access to the main vehicular bridge, the Cangxi Commercial Centre plays an integral part in the city’s new urban fabric. Our design intent is to engage the new city with the two converging rivers. We studied the potential pattern of growth in the new city and developed a distinctive urban form that provides a unique skyline. Green roofs and sky gardens strike

a balance between the sharp ultra-modern angular towers. Towers are carefully placed to make use of the urban vistas on the one side and the scenic Wudang Mountain on the other. Plazas and pedestrian overpasses add a sense of energy and vitality to the streets below, while pocket parks and water features gradually knit nature back into the city.’ (Photos by Fang Jian)

C a n g x i D u l i D a m W a t e r f r o n t C o m m e r C i a l C e n t e rCangxi, Sichuan; building area 606,000m2, 2016

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‘Poetic space creation method was used in different space system patterns in the project to develop various emotional spaces. Around the lake, we built waterfront platforms combined with ecological stairs to connect each functional space, and steps at random below the tree shade to provide diversified practice places by the

water for the monks. Moreover, the ornament of growing trees reveal the majestic and sacred ambience of the main shrine. To create college life atmosphere, in the teaching and living quarters, we utilized the good vegetation in the original site, integrated with the regional cultural infiltration to build a harmonious, natural and relaxing atmosphere. The overall environment shows high respect for the natural environment and area spirit, blending artistic concept into Buddhism space, and promote cultural civilization.’

S i C h u a n t i B e t a n B u D D h i S t i n S t i t u t ePi County, Sichuan; building area 74,300m 2, in construction

responsible for the interior design direction of their projects, Du oversees architecture and landscape design. In the past 15 years, they have become known for their culturally sensitive approach to hotel design. From large scale international brands to local boutique properties, BLVD is making its mark upon China’s hospitality landscape through work that marry an international level of aesthetics and execution with subtle Chinese characteristics.

Liu acknowledges that BLVD’s projects attempt to combine elements of place with universal standards for beauty. ‘In the past 15 years, BLVD has been striving to be a culturally sensitive design practice, engaging in bringing notions of oriental values and aesthetical philosophies to our work,’ she states. ‘For example, our design for the Royal Garden Hotel’s Lakeview Restaurant in Haikou, Hainan Island, includes a main dining

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‘The central idea of this project is to build a low involvement, innovative and sustainable tourism experience. The resort is located in the north gate of Changbai Mountain scenic area surrounded by ecological forest vegetation, including birches and pine forests, with a river in the middle which enjoys exceptional advantage in the environment and resources.

The original intention of our design is to keep the uniqueness of site’s forest and river; we expect architecture and landscape to exist in a low-key form in the field. As such, we came up with “the fog of the forest” as the concept; through extension of several groups of streamline roofs, the structure fell onto place naturally in the purest way. We strived to make

the cloud image act in coordination with the forest, snow and ice in the mountain, to let the building fuse with the surrounding environment. The undulations of the “cloud” were composed of a number of slope roofs. Generated by different collapsing change, the structure has a sense of rhythm that is reflected on the inside as well.’

C h a n g B a i m o u n t a i n f o r e S t a n D h o t S p r i n g r e S o r tChangbai Mountain, Jilin Province; building area 19,280m2, in construction

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zone that faces the lake. From it, guests can observe the scene changing over time—the scene is active, while people are static. The entrance, restaurant and lounge surround a zen courtyard, with elements of rock and water. The lightweight architecture hovers above the lake, while a tower provides shelter from nature and is interpreted as a pavilion with four transparent sides.’

As a hospitality design, Liu understands that some of her projects are similar to stage sets where guests participate in an act that is fleeting yet memorable. Hotel interiors are often dramatic in order to capture the imagination of an increasingly sophisticated clientele. ‘I always stick to the philosophy of harmony between thought and scenery in my design,’ she says. ‘Each space has its own spirit because of different

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Steven Holl’s (2009) building for Vanke ‘is a very good example on how the environment protection and energy-saving are blended into architecture. The experimental “floating horizon skyscraper”, after 10 years of growth and refinement, has become a real sustainable landmark standing high in the city. For BLVD, the interior design should be the projection of a corporate value on the space shape. With the staff expansion brought from the rapid development of Vanke and the change of new

office mode, Vanke Headquarters urgently needs to have an enhanced interior space that can integrate reception, meeting and social activities as a whole. It is obvious that this renovation task carries a substantial meaning. Located on the third level, the reception area breaks away from traditional office styles and mono-function space concepts to create a dramatic spatial experience for staff and clients. Cold cement paint, dark carpet, and exposed ceiling surprisingly turned out a very warm and friendly space, due to touches of bright colours and featured furniture. Dynamically shaped meeting rooms of different sizes provide various capacities for various use, in addition to a Juice Bar and Lounge...’ (Photos by Sun Xiangyu)

r e C e p t i o n a r e a o f S h e n z h e n V a n k e C e n t e rDameisha, Shenzhen, Guangdong; 2,500m 2, 2016

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‘Our project starts with the idea of “box inside a box”, given the industrial envelope of the Steven Holl building. Each function of the program has become an object itself. We use warm wood to

contrast with the concrete and metal envelope. We used as a design motive the number of skylights on the 6F of the building. To bring sunlight to the interior spaces means to bring in nature. The VIP reception room follows the idea of a dry garden where ground relief and vertical lines create shadows and soft movements through the space. The conference room is set with a half circle table so that users face not only a screen but also each other. The wood material also has acoustic and thermal insulating

qualities. We choose dark gray carpet for the floor to help the isolation conditions and also to bring a softer and warmer texture to the space. The whole project showed Vanke’s honest exploration of the relationships between man and man, man and nature, man and society; its humble and low-profile gesture on building the bridge between nature livings and urban life. This is also once again a great interpretation of the philosophy of perfection and harmony BLVD always pursues in its design works.’ (Photos by Sun Xiangyu)

V i p C o n f e r e n C e a r e a o f S h e n z h e n V a n k e h e a D q u a r t e r SDameisha, Shenzhen, Guangdong; 375m2, 2016

users. Therefore, we should pay particular attention to the character of the place that each space belongs to during our design. We should explore its historical and cultural characteristics, search the origin of the sense of identification and belonging, and further summarise the spiritual qualities of the space, to achieve a solution that has feeling and soul, both elegant and intimate.’

Recently, Liu has noticed that international brands are deviating dramatically from their standards to suit China as they introduce properties in key cities. ‘In order to avoid this phenomenon, we have to ensure their brand DNA still remains,’ she notes. ‘During the past two years while cooperating with the Hyatt Group on the design of Hyatt Place and Hyatt House in several Chinese cities, I was deeply impressed by the strength of their brand. In my opinion, we need to follow three principles to maintain a brand’s DNA: retain a complete set of functions with proper scale, design freely while sticking to design principles, and understand the place’s culture while creatively interpreting it.’

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‘...Our intention is to achieve an open and highly efficient space, not only satisfying the many needs for work and entertainment, but also offering a warm and relaxing environment just is like being in one’s living room at home. The city image, refined and abstracted from the distinctive cultural deposits of this ancient

capital, is the beginning of our design approach. Dark grey and warm orange are the dominant tones of the hotel. Grey refers to the classic Longmen Grottoes and overlapping Pagoda eaves, while orange comes from the tri-colour glazed pottery that embodies the artistic imperial concepts in Luoyang, the capital of ancient China for 13 dynasties. Based on these two colours, we extend a series of properties applied into different materials of furniture in a minimalist manner. An abundance of sunlight

from all sides embrace the space, creating further animated patterns across the surfaces as the sun moves across the sky. The spatial layout is quite straightforward and efficiently programmed, allowing very fluent flow all the way through the entire open lobby, lounge and meeting pre-function. The coffee bar counter is also for checking in, apart from coffee making to appetizer preparation, substantially improving the operation efficiency. Operable watermark glass screens placed between corridors allow

for flexible seating arrangement to meet different operational needs. When opening up the glass door to the meeting pre-function, it morphs into an integrated whole with the lobby lounge. In addition to what is visible in the space, the more important aesthetic design lies in the invisible sense of layering, from which one sees the discreet logic behind the visible.’ (Photos by Dirk Weiblen)

h y a t t p l a C e l u o y a n g Henan Province; design area 20,695m 2, 2016

She believes that BLVD has a mandate to foster Chinese culture through its projects, updated for a contemporary audience with contemporary elements. ‘Nowadays, the Chinese dream is widely talked about, and I believe there is also a Chinese dream in design,’ Liu says. ‘We always try to integrate Chinese culture with international and modern design concepts. We attempt to convey the elegance of man and nature being a harmonious whole—a concept that has long been recognised in traditional Chinese culture—into each of our projects. We aim to achieve a unique artistic conception by using orientalism as our cultural connotation, with a western design approach. In other words, we would like to spread the aesthetic view of traditional Chinese culture into other places and influence other world cultures through our efforts and practice in architectural design.’

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‘The design concept focused on three objectives: integrating the city’s local features and character into design, putting an emphasis on ecology and a green approach by stressing low carbon consumption, and providing and caring for human needs. The concept aims to produce a

wonderland-like experience by featuring breath-taking green mountains and clear rivers. The area hosts the most influential urban axis in the Northwest part of China. Because of this exposure, a strong influence in the design is to present Yinchuan’s charm and taste. An added bonus to the site is its dramatic level differences which are fully utilized to create spectacular urban spaces around the central part of the city. The distance between the city and the riverfront is considerable, challenging the designers

to devise a way to close this gap. Designing pedestrian walkways in a serpentine, wave-like pattern brings the city and the waterfront closer together at regular intervals. It also alludes to the fluid motion of the river and enhances the water experience as well as creating a more organic and natural experience by breaking the rigid landscape line. A vivid eco waterfront image is produced by creating a variety of spatial sequences overlooking the river. The planning of the waterfront park is intended to

incorporate the development of Yinchuan and its traditional culture through abstract expression. Using organic patterns and creativity, this area is sculpted to deliver a delightful and memorable recreational experience. This waterfront park will serve as a landscape landmark, offering visual enjoyment and eco recreation. It will also become the most influential urban axis in North-western part of China, a splendid image of strong visual impact for Yinchuan to show to the outside world.’

W a t e r f r o n t p a r k o f a i y i r i V e rYinchuan, Ningxia Province, 2014

Operating a successful design studio while designing challenging, innovative, yet ultimately labour intensive projects are often a delicate balance for BLVD. ‘A profitable business comes from having a proper commercial strategy and a practical internal management,’ Liu believes. ‘Yet experimental design is what we are passionate about and we always spare no effort for these projects — they are critical to showing the competitiveness of our firm and we enjoy the fun of working on them. However, such opportunities don’t come very often. That’s why we never worry about the difficulties that experimental design brings to our commercial operation. Probably there are some difficulties in the short term — but they are complementary to each other in the long term.’