DJX Design | Wuhan Qushui-Lanting Resort Hotel : Interweaving Sensory Experiences with the Art of “Deep Time”
Every atom within the human body
originates from stars that date back billions of years,
as the stardust of the Big Bang
forms the essence of our existence.
When we talk about “vacation”, it entails not only escaping in terms of space but also drifting through time: Departing from the ordinary and the tangible, journeying through space and time while gazing at the starlight, freely wandering among glaciers and oceans, art, and history—discovering serene happiness and lasting energy not amidst overwhelming sensory bombardment but in the connections between humans and nature, between the past and the future.
Embracing this perspective, DJX Design’s latest project—the Wuhan Qushui-Lanting Resort Hotel, themed around the geological concept of “deep time” —delves into the concealed history of the Earth spanning billions of years. From structure and texture to lighting design, it extols the expansiveness and enigma of nature through an architectural sense of order.
A Journey into Deep Time, A Projection from the Earth’s Past
Keywords: Deep Time
This geological concept of time
refers to the Earth’s “vertiginous extensive history,”
measured in terms of epochs and eons.
When discussing deep time, thoughts of Scandinavian glaciers, rocks, volcanoes, and sea beds often come to mind. Deep time, transcending human metrics, extends into both the past and the future. Visions of “future ruins” are consistently accompanied by collapsed boulders in caves, untouched rough textures, and mysterious dim light.
The design of the hotel lobby captures this atmosphere—a surreal moment where one can engage in a dialogue with the distant past and the future, momentarily disrupting the equilibrium of space-time. The tilted “rock wall” fractures into two pieces leaning against each other, creating a shelter for the service area. While the fallen debris naturally stacks up to form the reception desk.
The long, curved wall, reminiscent of weathered mountains and rocks, is grand in scale, heavy, rustic, and unadorned, emanating a sense of vicissitude. This gray volume, approximately four stories high, evokes the sacredness of religious spaces and Plato’s “allegory of the cave” when bathed in subtle daylight, displaying a serene and profound momentum.