Zai Hotel differs from other hotels as this hotel’s main requirement is to be a “wedding hotel” where the guests would rent out the whole facility for the formal wedding reception and the after-party. The hotel only has eight guestrooms, intended for only the closest family and friends – other guests are able to stay at a nearby facility owned by the same owner. As the site is situated on a cliff on a peninsula, overlooking an 180 degree view of the Andaman sea, the architect designed the building to be three separate masses, stacking and turning on one another to form a courtyard in the center which centralizes and visually connects these masses together.

The alternating levels in the building masses also mean all three buildings are still able to take the view of the ocean whereas the guestrooms are placed in the frontal mass towards the sea, running parallel to the beach. Furthermore, each unit is also designed to have a wider frontage than usual, with some having a mezzanine level to maximize the view, which is also the case in the bride & groom suite with an extra wide frontage for optimal sea view. While the theater and fitness center is also located here, the main pool is located above the guestrooms and is about forty-meter in length, overlooking the panoramic sunset view beyond the cliff.

The middle mass, perpendicular to the guestroom mass, houses the lobby lounge which offers a central common space where guests can interact while taking in the view from all direcTons. This area connects to the front building, parallel to the main road at the back, which houses the service funcTons, the Back-of-House, the restaurant and the spa that also opens for public use. All three buildings are placed in a simple connecting form with an emphasis on the viewpoints toward the sea and the funcTonal sequences of weddings.

The interior finishes are mostly white in color in combination with surfaces that interact with the surrounding natural light that changes throughout the day. The designer emphasizes the color change in the light spectrum from dawn till dusk inside of the guestrooms and the important photo-taking moments such as ‘Twilight Sky’, ‘Sunny Sky’ , ‘Clear Sky’, ‘Vanilla Sky’ to even ‘Cloudy Sky’. The overall tone of the architecture is simplified into a monotone, black and white scheme for the purpose of being the background for the on-going wedding events, highlighting the colors of the weddings which should be the main focus of that special night.