The Ningbo Dongqian Lake International Education Forum is located on a peninsula in the heart of the Dongqian Lake Tourist Resort, on the outskirts of Ningbo. It serves as a cultural industry forum centered around academic exchange, research, and dissemination, aiming to promote and deepen educational and cultural exchanges, cooperation, coordination, and development among different regions, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds worldwide. Among its key supporting facilities is the Ningbo Dongqian Lake Huamao Hilton Resort and Conference Center.

Dongqian Lake boasts expansive waters, with ancient water towns built along its waterways becoming scenic spots characteristic of the Jiangnan region. When mist rises, the mountains and waters blend into a picturesque scene shrouded in rain, with the Ming Dynasty village of Yinwan appearing faintly across the lake, merging architecture with nature seamlessly. This essence of Jiangnan gardens is preserved in the design of the Ningbo Dongqian Lake Huamao Hilton Resort and Conference Center.

On a flat site surrounded by mountains on three sides and water on one side, the design creates a rhythmic series of courtyards that seek balance between formality and naturalness. Two main axes form the dual core of the site planning: the water feature axis starts from the top of the gate mountain and points towards Dongqian Lake, unfolding in segments reminiscent of Jiangnan gardens but presented through figure-ground inversion and geometric abstraction. The cultural axis consists of the conference center and an open-air theater, with their architectural and spatial sequences unfolding in the style of traditional Chinese academies.

As a venue for international conferences, the forum's architecture should convey a sense of internationalism and authority. However, the hotel and conference center also need to be welcoming and accessible due to their commercial and service-oriented functions. The roof of the conference center undulates in geometrically abstracted mountain shapes, echoing the surrounding terrain. The design of the Ningbo Dongqian Lake Huamao Hilton Resort modernizes traditional courtyard forms, retaining the most important public space type of southern courtyards—small, deep atriums. Guest rooms are stacked like boxes arranged around these atriums, some stacking up, others receding or elevated, breaking down the scale of the building. Boxes stepping back at higher levels ensure ample lighting, while elevated ones become another interpretation of the "deep overhanging eaves" found in traditional courtyards.