How can an ageing building be made to feel at home in a Jiangnan water town? In Zhouzhuang, Kunshan, Jiangsu, a disused hotel has been reimagined as an immersive theatre venue, bringing a new cultural purpose to a once-abandoned structure.
The project sits in Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, often known as ‘China’s No. 1 Water Town’, and was commissioned through a collaboration between the Zhouzhuang Town Government and China Oriental Performing Arts Group. The architectural transformation was designed by the China Academy of Art Landscape Architecture Design & Research Institute (CAALADI) together with Practice on Earth.
Instead of replacing the former hotel, the architects retained its main structure and introduced a new outer layer: a rippling anodised aluminium façade named the ‘Water Curtain’. Made up of modular panels with concealed rain chains, the new skin transforms the building’s original boxy form into something more fluid and responsive to its setting.
Precisely calculated tapered curves soften the hotel’s rigid outline, while the façade’s wave-like surface draws directly on the canals and waterways that shape Zhouzhuang’s character. The metal screen reshapes the building’s visual bulk without disguising its scale entirely, allowing the existing structure to take on a gentler, more contemporary identity within the historic town.
At ground level, a covered walkway runs beneath the Water Curtain, forming a threshold between the street and the theatre within. The space is organised around a strict 50 × 100mm grid that continues from floor to wall and ceiling, creating a composed and consistent rhythm throughout.
The architects also looked to the meiren kao, or ‘beauty’s bench’, found in traditional Chinese gardens when designing the built-in seating along the walkway. Practical elements have been carefully concealed: rainwater runs through slim gaps in the structure and into hidden drainage channels, maintaining the pared-back appearance of the façade while addressing the demands of the local climate.
Anodised aluminium was chosen for its reflective finish, which allows the Water Curtain to shift subtly with the changing daylight. From morning to dusk, its colour and texture respond to the surrounding sky and water, making the façade feel less static than its metal construction might suggest.
Delivering the curved form required a particularly exacting construction process. Positioning steel plates were used to establish the geometry, while a total station was used to set out the main structure. With little tolerance for error across the curved surface, experienced workers adjusted the secondary steel framing on site to accommodate minor structural variations. In total, 1,060 curved aluminium panels were individually calibrated and installed to create the continuous, seamless effect of the Water Curtain.
Photos: Cloe Yun Wang
