Reading the Local Language of the Mountains When my clients approached me with this project, they had already visited Emerald Hills, my first boutique hotel project in Moganshan, which comprises Hütte 5 and Hütte 7. They chose to work with me based on what they saw there — how my adaptive reuse of existing buildings resulted in an award-winning project. It was their first venture into the hospitality industry, which made the trust they placed in me all the more meaningful. SU

In the bamboo-covered mountains of Moganshan, China, Austrian architect Genco Berk transformed a cluster of existing village houses into Hütte 5 — a main building, a smaller bedroom building and a café, with heavily ornamented façades stripped back and old materials given new purpose.

Hütte 7 was the second building Genco Berk designed for Emerald Hills in Moganshan, China. The three-storey village house could not be made shorter — so its façade was recomposed to change how tall it reads.