Hidden Unseen: Desert Lotus Hotel

A magnificent new hotel has bloomed amid the vast sea of sands in Xiangshawan Desert, Inner Mongolia, 800 kilometers west to Beijing. Named the “Desert Lotus Hotel”, the structure consist of repeating triangular white tent tops, rotated 45 degrees and connected together in a circular formation like a lotus. Free of tiles and bricks for construction, the resort is built with low carbon environment friendly materials to utilize solar, water and wind energy in the desert, reducing environmental pollution and strengthening ecology protection. Load bearing walls give the structure the bulk of its structural integrity, while a dazzling array of repeating triangular panels provide shade and protection from the harsh elements.

Due to the restriction by its special geographic condition, PLaT Architects invented a new structural system that fix in fluid sands using only steel panels without the help of concrete or water. The panels and the supporting skeleton structures are pre-fabricated, and make the base of the building a large container for sands. Thus, the steel panel structure can function as a boat floating on desert that carries the building. The sands in and out of the structure exert same forces to each other, and thus it is flexibly stabilized.

The hotel is part of a new resort built amid a vast sea of sand dunes, increasingly popular with Chinese tourists. The resort hosts Mongolian-themed performances, camel rides, desert surfing, and more.

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