Babylon Garden Condotel | ALPES GDB

Architects ALPES GDB
Location 2 Hà Bổng, Phước Mỹ, Sơn Trà, Đà Nẵng, Vietnam
Principal Architects Ho Khue
Team Design Phi Thi My Dung, Vo Thi Trang, Mai Le Hoang, Kevin Baratt
Area 1000.0 m2
Project Year 2017
Photographs Hiroyuki Oki
Manufacturers Sika, YKKap

Babylon Garden is located in a crowded coastal hotel zone near the most popular beach in Danang. Set 25 meters down a small street; it is alluring due to its modern green appearance as an oasis while everything nearby is big and mundane. It offers a serene natural experience while only a few steps from the hustle and bustle and every service travelers require. The challenge of the design for Ho Khue Architects (ALPES Green Design & Build) was to build something special, close to, but off the “main drag” that was highly visible and beautiful.

Babylon Garden’s location in the alley off Ha Bong was at first not favorable because the land is surrounded on 3 sides with old residential low-rise buildings. The solution by Ho Khue Architects (ALPES Green Design & Build) was to build high, include a combination of reflective glass, balconies, and plantings. It is natural among concrete. An oasis of allowing guests to experience the fresh sea air, green plants, and feel comfortable coming back to this natural hotel during the hot summer. The 6-storey hotel features 13 exquisitely appointed guest rooms that are efficient and the highest quality in every detail. There is a restaurant, a Koi Fish Lake Café surrounded by walls of plants, billiards, and a gym. Although more rooms were possible, we designed each room to be in a corner offering two views and great natural sea air ventilation for each room.

The 1st floor and mezzanine has floor up plantings and vining plants hanging from the restaurant planters on the second floor. Specialized vertical planting cases are used to accomplish this beautiful effect. The frontal area is cramped by the alley, yet the view and feeling inside are expanded by the vertical plantings, Koi Lake, natural ventilation on the back wall, and very high ceiling. Everyone recognizes an unusual or soothing architectural landscape. We feel them unconsciously. Ho Khue Architects (ALPES) requires that our projects satisfy light and ventilation requirements in addition to creating landmark high-rise buildings in urban spaces that elicit feelings.

Each bedroom is attached to a relaxing balcony that houses a large variety of trees and a balustrade, which changes its position with each floor. The “dancing” of the balconies around the building offers an unusual beauty we feel as motion. Ho Khue Architects (ALPES) wants to build great and strong buildings that also focus on the emotions of users. Incorporating trees and plants with natural stone and decorative concrete contribute to elicit a positive perception of the buildings as a natural environment. Babylon Garden is a modern hanging garden that connects people with nature, just steps from the hustle and bustle of the tourist area.