WHY Hotel is a hot spring hotel located in the northeast Beijing suburb of Peking Backyard. ELEV/WEI Architects was initially hired to renovate an existing structure of 20+ rooms and add seven new units on top of an existing parking area, without any major changes to the cartoon theme of the hotel. However, the owners of WHY Hotel are a group of daring businessmen in their early thirties: once open communication was established between the clients and architect, they quickly agreed to transform the project from a cartoon-themed agritainment style hotel to a design-focused boutique hotel, unified by a beautiful bamboo grove.

The new design of WHY Hotel bridges traditional Chinese architecture and contemporary Beijing. We have described the experience of the new design in the spirit of the famous ancient poet, Yuanming Tao (AD352 – AD427) in his piece ?The Peach Colony?:
Walking along the path with trees rustling, water rippling, and tree shadows dancing, the guest feels as though the buildings became indistinct among the bamboo leaves. After a turn, there is a pond with a thin and delicate mist hovering above the spring water.

The design team confronted many issues due to the condition of the existing buildings and site. The original hotel was built hastily without planning or architectural drawings, resulting in rooms of varying size and orientation with no foundation structure. Additionally, the allotted site was very tight to fit seven standard rooms with priv...