I heard plenty about Mulan bay and, after looking at the photographs again, that place could be sensational. 16m of pure sand. Four golf courses. And looks like terrain to rival Cypress. If you stick to your guns, Hainan could seriously become a mecca of the golfing world.
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As I eluded to in my earlier post, the project shows that architects can't always hide behind the excuse that the client was difficult - here Bill C spent 120+ days in China on site and the outcome is as clear as day.
I think you meant "alluded," Michael ... unless you are trying to fool me!
From whom did you hear about Mulan Bay? I didn't know anybody really knew much about it; it's so hard to get to right now, I have only been out there 5 days myself. I think it's going to take a crew full of Rambo types to get it built.
The project is always in flux, and though they have plans now for three golf courses, and potentially even more down the road, they are only really seriously planning the first course, on the point itself. I don't know if I will get to design the others, although the client has asked me to be involved in everything out there -- the land plan, the routings for the other golf courses if someone else designs them, the hotels, the clubhouse, everything. In fact, I just did the siting for the clubhouse and first hotel yesterday, and I have my fingers crossed that they will go with my concept for the hotel, which I haven't seen at another golf course to date.
The elevations range from 45 meters down to beach level, and judging by some of the holes dug nearby for titanium mining, it is sand down way beyond 16 meters. [In America, when we had a sandy site we sometimes used to say it was "sand all the way to China," and I guess we meant all the way to Mulan Bay!] The only thing I can think of when I go out there is that it should be Pine Valley by the Sea. Now I've just got to figure out how to make that work, and withstand the occasional typhoon.