By chance the client found Mr. Xu Xujun two years ago. After a few hours’ communication at the first meeting, the client requested that Mr. Xu provide a brief proposal first. At that night, Mr. Xu drew a rough draft by hand: elements of Oriental Zen were added to the overlapping connected buildings , and Tibetan style of ancient city Shangri-La was taken as a smooth transition, thus a simple hostel which presents the beauty of nature was gradually shown. The client thought highly of the draft, thus a story about the original design of KARESANSUI was unfolded…

KARESANSUI is located at No. 46 Cuo Lang, North Gate Street of Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-La, Yunnan. It is geographically blessed — only three minutes’ walk from Sifang Street. Buildings of KARESANSUI are built on the slopes; it took nearly two years to complete the construction. During the construction period, Mr. Xu stayed on project site with his assistants for nearly one year to follow up on and instruct the construction. This contributes to the perfect implementation of the design!

KARESANSUI are composed of six small buildings and an old Tibetan house, visually, the two buildings where the restaurant and lobby located are floating in the air. Bridged by corridors, the buildings are undulating and interweaved with each other. There are 15 guest rooms in total, in addition, there is a lobby, a restaurant and a tea room. Unique indoor design could be found in each guests room, while giving guests great sense of privacy, it shows the beauty of new oriental Zen. One of the buildings keep the original Tibetan structure, and local Tibetan elements are added to its architectural and interior design.

When designing the window, Xu Xujun made full use of the great view, making it possible for guests to enjoy the painting-like scenery of blue sky, white clouds, sunrise and sunset just by looking out of the window. The transformation of new styled buildings and the old Tibetan houses is natural and harmonious. The scale of the hostel is not big, but it is exquisite. The space function layout is ingenious and just perfect. While standing out, the buildings blend into the surrounding environment and hostels perfectly. The local committee call it “one of the most beautiful hostel in Shangri-La”.

The name of the hostel comes from poetry Looking for the Reclusive Chan Taoist of South Stream by Liu Changqing, poet of Tang Dynasty.”Enjoy the green pines after the rain, walk by the path of the mountain and find the source of the water, I understand Zen from the reflection of the flowers in the stream , and I stare at them silently.” The poet didn’t find the taoist, instead, he found something else interesting which enabled him to get insight into Zen. The name KARESANSUI is thus born, it aims at helping guests to gain spiritual pleasure and psychological satisfaction. Being enlighten by the quite stream, enjoying fun of tranquility from appreciating swaying wildflower; What’s deep inside the heart is a kind of peace and joy of self-examination. Such kind of peaceful mood integrated harmoniously with the quiet environment. We hope that all guests could have an agreeable experience here.

Design Company: Yiduan Shanghai Interior Design
Chief Designer & Creative Director: Xu Xujun
Participating Designers: Xu Xuwei, Changtao, Zhang Qianglong, Mahoulong
Photographer: Zhu Enlong