Progressing Culture through Architecture
Explore how we highlight culture through architectural design
Architecture is at the core of built society, and at NDA we deeply understand the role we play in preserving history, protecting culture, and presenting identity.
Think of Paris and you immediately see the Eiffel Tower, think of Sydney and your mind conjures up images of the Sydney Opera House. Landmark designs project what a city stands for and who their citizens are, imbuing their identity, culture and history all in one.
In this age of rapid development, oftentimes we as a society look only at the future yet forget the past, but at NDA we seek to combine past, present, and future to create landmark projects that combine cutting edge designs that are truly embedded in locality.
Kunming Hotel
The legendary Kunming Hotel has a storied history starting from the 1950s. Once the premier destination for this provincial capital, with time its flame has dimmed, and we were tasked with revitalizing it and bringing it back to its former glory.
Our starting point is the connection between the hotel, city, and province. We analyse every aspect of these three and link the hotel’s glorious past, the city’s ancient Silk Road history, and Yunnan province’s rich nature and cultural heritage into the project.
We embrace this connection with the Cloud Bridge, the centrepiece of the hotel that connects the city with province, symbolizes past and future together, and inspires people and place. The Cloud Bridge spans over different times, different cultures, and different people, and with its subtle, ethereal aura, it brings us ever closer to the mysteries and stories that lay in Yunnan, the place “south of the clouds”.
Bai Thung Bay Resort
Nestled deep in Southeast Vietnam’s Bai Thung Bay, Bai Thung Wellness Resort is a hidden gem. It is situated on the edge of Bai Thung Bay where the forests of the UNESCO biosphere Nui Chua National Park race to the water’s edge, giving way to the crystalline waters of this spectacular bay.
The local region between the cities of Nha Trang and Phan Rang has an astonishing mix of cultures. The dominant Vietnamese culture is influenced by the Raglai, Kinh, and Cham peoples, alongside the sea living lifestyle that the locals practice.
By designing three distinct village areas or ‘Palei’, we honour the diversity of traditions present: the Promontory Village in the north, the Stream Village in the centre, and the Sea Village in the south.
From the beginning of this project NDA wanted to create a tribute to the natural beauty of the site and its cultural heritage identity. That means embracing and advocating that sustainability be an unconditional pillar of the hospitality of tomorrow.
Anhui TV Centre
Completed in 2013, Anhui TV Centre is a symbolic project that bears the lofty responsibility of marking Anhui province’s rapid development whilst broadcasting to 61 million people.
It is imperative, then, that the design speaks as much to the future as it does to the past, and so we gave this ultra-modern building flowing lines that move upward in swift momentum, recalling an unfolding paper scroll. This simultaneously represents the Chinese invention of paper, whilst also showing the spread of knowledge.
The façade of the TV Centre is etched in calligraphy, a form of strokes that focuses on elegance and beauty, a stark contrast to the modern high-tech functions of the Centre itself, in huge characters magnificent even from afar.
In the past decade since its completion, Anhui TV Tower has become an icon of the city, adorned on a million posters and selfies, much in the way the Oriental Pearl Tower is symbolic of Shanghai, all whilst simultaneously broadcasting the magnificent ancient and modern cultures of Anhui.