14 Aug 2025
At CPMG, our international portfolio continues to expand, most notably through our work on the InLong Narada Resort in Jiangsu, China. But while that built project acts as a compelling case study, the real value lies in the broader lessons we've learned from designing across different geographies, climates and cultural contexts.
The InLong Narada Resort is located two hours west of Shanghai, on the site of a disused quarry near one of China’s largest freshwater lakes. Its transformation into a lakeside destination was born from a local ambition: to regenerate an industrial site into a thriving community and tourism asset.
Our role began with a bold but sensitive masterplan. The land, shaped by decades of extraction, now holds a striking manmade lake surrounded by cliffs and forest. Designing within this terrain meant working with the land rather than reshaping it. Our team developed a reception building, children’s play area and lakeside lodges that respond to the steep levels and evolving views - all anchored by a design strategy that sought harmony with the environment.
Designing Across Climates
Working internationally requires more than adapting standards - it demands a deep understanding of climate.
In Jiangsu’s humid subtropical setting, passive cooling, natural shading, and orientation were key to comfort and efficiency. MVHR systems, local ventilation strategies and careful material selection helped us create buildings that breathe - reducing reliance on mechanical systems while increasing long-term sustainability.
These climate-led design decisions are embedded into our global design process. Whether building in heat, humidity or high altitudes, we know that environmental conditions must lead, not follow.
Concepts That Go Beyond the Build
While only certain components of the InLong resort have been delivered so far, our wider conceptual work included - notably, a cliffside spa, bar and collection of luxury villas.
These unbuilt studies remain integral to our design thinking. They explored how architecture could embed itself in the quarry walls, offering immersion rather than imposition. The designs used local stone and timber, layered with green roofs and internal courtyards to promote wellbeing and frame views toward the lake.
We continue to draw from these visualisations and spatial strategies, using them to inform future resort projects in similarly sensitive locations - including forests, mountainsides and waterside sites.
Culture is Context
Perhaps the most important lesson from our international work is that every design must be deeply rooted in its cultural setting.
At InLong Narada Resort, the architecture responds not only to terrain but to narrative. The name of the site - translating to Dragon Valley - sparked a design language that wove symbolism directly into form. Sweeping rooflines and curved canopies echo the wings of dragons in flight, creating a subtle but powerful connection to Chinese folklore. These design moves are more than aesthetic gestures - they create emotional resonance and authenticity for the people who live with, visit and care about the place.
But this cultural intelligence is not automatic. It comes from open dialogue with clients, with local communities, with context itself. Every site has a story. Our role is to listen and translate that story into form, materiality and atmosphere.
This commitment continues to shape our design thinking. During the conceptual stages of another major resort project in China, we explored a series of architectural responses inspired by the surrounding lychee forest and nearby reservoir. Though the commission will not proceed further, the imagery and ideas it generated remain a rich source of inspiration.
These design studies - from ceremonial pavilions floating on water to villas that dissolve into subtropical foliage - are expressions of place-specific thinking. They demonstrate how design can reflect regional identity, respect ecological conditions and offer meaningful experiences rooted in culture.
Each cultural context asks new questions of us as architects. We welcome that complexity because it leads to more human, more memorable and more grounded places.
Architecture That Listens
Whether nestled in a quarry, floating beside a reservoir or hidden within a lychee forest, the environments we design in are never blank canvases but are living systems. Our responsibility is to protect, enhance and contribute meaningfully to those ecosystems through design.
What we’ve learned through projects like InLong is not limited to hospitality. These same principles - climate responsiveness, cultural intelligence, and landscape integration - shape how we design homes, schools, healthcare environments and communities across the globe.
