Courtyard Hotel Revives Yangzhou’s Ancient Core

A cluster of historic and contemporary buildings in the heart of Yangzhou has been transformed into a new hospitality destination, as local practices BLUE Architecture Studio and Urban Architecture Lab at Southeast University complete the Jiangnan House Yangzhou Guangling hotel.

Named Jiangnan House Yangzhou Guangling, the project forms part of a broader urban renewal program within Guangling Ancient City.

GALLERY

The initiative seeks to revitalise the historic centre of Yangzhou by introducing contemporary uses while preserving the district’s cultural character.

Set across a 4,250 square metre site, the hotel brings together a mix of retrofitted structures and newly constructed volumes to accommodate 40 guest rooms and a series of communal amenities. The design team retained the fragmented layout typical of the old town, arranging the buildings around a sequence of small courtyards that create a layered spatial experience for guests.

Visitors arrive through a former cinema that has been repurposed as the hotel lobby. The building’s Art Deco frontage, high ceilings and timber roof structure have been preserved, while the interior has been reorganised around a rocky tree garden encircled by bar and café seating. The approach establishes an atmosphere that merges heritage with contemporary hospitality.

Among the new additions is a VIP room and private restaurant housed within a gabled concrete structure that gently overhangs an existing brick boundary wall. Bamboo moulds were used to imprint a textured surface into the concrete façade, referencing Yangzhou’s historic bamboo gardens. Recycled bricks were used for the ground floor walls, creating what the architects describe as a dialogue between history and modernity.

Other parts of the complex have been carefully adapted. To the north, a smaller accommodation block has been refreshed with a façade of slender metal bars. Nearby, a newly constructed sauna echoes the form of surrounding traditional buildings, while a split roof introduces a skylight that draws natural light into the interior.

On the western edge of the site, a contemporary multi storey concrete building contains larger suites, each with access to a private courtyard garden. A consistent interior scheme developed by BLUE Architecture Studio ties the diverse structures together, exposing historic timber where possible and pairing it with warm, pared back materials and textured surfaces inspired by traditional craft.

Images by XIAZHI Pictures via Dezeen