Büro Ole Scheeren designs hanging garden resort in Sanya
Büro Ole Scheeren has won an international design competition for its vision of a tropical resort in Sanya, scheduled to open in 2026. Rising 160m above the verdant waterfront, Sanya Horizons is set to embrace, integrate and amplify the surrounding environment to create a unique ecological leisure destination.
The project for CDF Investment & Development Co is sited on 83,500m² of lush land and comprises two hotels under IHG brands – The Regent Sanya Bay and Hotel Indigo Sanya Bay. Rather than creating a pair of separated towers, the properties are stacked on top of one another, thereby occupying a smaller footprint and liberating large parts of the natural landscape on the ground. This strategic manoeuvre allows the combined massing to be more structurally and ecologically efficient while adding a new silhouette to Sanya’s shoreline.
Sanya Horizons’ stacked horizontal volumes are planimetrically curved to embrace the ocean and further enhance the vistas, with every hotel room given its own private terrace and sea views. Through the offsets and openings between the volumes, a wide spectrum of natural plantings and gardens emerges across the building, almost doubling the amount of green space on the site. An integral vertical jungle, the hanging gardens are a feature on every floor and every room, providing a holistic and synergetic experience.
Within the horizontal openings, Horizon Villas boast private terraces and swimming pools, while the insertion of experiential amenities on the Sky Terrace and Sky Deck with restaurants, lounges and landscaping opens up the massing to increase the sensorial diversity of the project. 75m above the ground, the Horizons Window is a six-storey opening with a multifunctional outdoor deck offering views of the sea to the east and the sunset to the west, while the infinity-edge Horizon Pool – one of the largest in the world – spans 153m in width and cantilevers above the ocean, projecting guests towards the beach surf in mid-air.
Besides the overall structural efficiency of the combined hotel volumes, the building’s large-scale openings increase its porosity and thereby minimise structural wind loads. Single-loaded room layouts also allow for natural cross-ventilation and reduce the need for mechanical cooling, while the façade consists of a deep hexagonal grid of balconies and walkways that provide complete protection from the sun and thereby further reduce the building’s energy footprint. Through those strategic measures, combined with the integration of abundant greenery, Sanya Horizons yields a highly environmentally responsible and sustainable performance.
Returning to the ground level, the gentle, undulating landscape – maximised through the vertical stacking of the hotels – echoes the ocean waves and ripples beyond. Home to various unique species, biotopes, pavilions and experiences, the gardens further complement and blend the natural with the built environment, creating what architect Ole Scheeren describes as “the merging of architecture and nature into a space of synergetic habitat” – a new, natural space of living combined with an experiential diversity and a sense of richness.
