While Aman’s Amanyangyun resort outside Shanghai itself is a great story, there are other fascinating stories within the big one. Here are a few of them:
The camphor forest. When the trees arrived in Shanghai, many people wanted to buy them. But Ma Dadong could not bear to sell even one because he wanted all the trees to be together. The trees that weren’t replanted on the hotel’s grounds were donated to parks in the neighborhood surrounding Amanyangyun.
Hidden basements. An extensive hidden underground world is hidden at the hotel. Nan Shu Fang, the cultural heart of the project, includes a special antique building with carved and vaulted ceilings and a koi pool in the main courtyard. But within the center is a deep basement displaying Ma’s nanmu wood furniture in a lofty, barrel-vaulted gallery space. In fact, all the private villas have large basement galleries that display valuable art collections and hold other amenities such as a cinema, wine cellar, gym and tearoom.
Screen motifs. Slatted screens are a recurring element throughout the project. They are a contemporary interpretation of screens traditionally used in Chinese architecture to mediate privacy and shade, explains Kerry Hill Architects. The contemporary screen design appears in nanmu wood in the hotel arrival space, in elm in the guest suites and public areas, and in bronze on the villa linkways and in the antique house. The shadows cast by the screen form a pattern of clouds. This is a subtle abstraction of the traditional Chinese cloud motif, which resonates with the idea of learning and culture embodied in the words “Yang Yun.”
Treasures rediscovered. During the project, historical treasures were rediscovered, including ornate stone carvings above the doorways of the Ming and Qing dynasty houses, now the antique villas. These carvings depicted the hopes, values and histories of the families in that home and were carefully preserved. Aman hopes that in turn they will fulfill the hopes and dreams of its guests. Books describing each villa’s history and former inhabitants are being made.
