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      Shortlist revealed for AHEAD MEA 2020 hospitality awards

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      Dezeen promotion: a cluster of luxurious tents in the Namibian desert and a hotel set amongst verdant gardens in Marrakech are some of the projects shortlisted in the Middle East and Africa heats of this year’s AHEAD awards.The AHEAD MEA awards give praise to outstanding hospitality projects that have launched, opened or reopened across the Middle East and Africa between January 2019 and February of this year.

      Zannier Hotels Sonop, a group of guest tents in Namibia, is on the shortlist
      Entries were initially organised into 15 categories, which acknowledge everything from a project’s guest suites to its landscaping and outdoor spaces.

      A shortlist was then composed by a judging panel of leading experts from the hotel industry. This year it includes figures such as Leila Abdul Rahim, design director of Hilton Worldwide, and Pallavi Dean, founder of studio Roar.

      Another project on the AHEAD MEA awards shortlist this year is Dubai’s Opus hotel
      Among the projects on the shortlist is Zannier Hotels Sonop, a group of 10 tents that perch over huge granite boulders in the Namibian desert.
      Decadently designed to evoke old-world safari charm, inside the tents have been decorated with vintage maps, binoculars and telescopes.

      Also on the shortlist is The Oberoi Marrakech, which is surrounded by lush gardens
      Other projects on the shortlist include the Opus hotel in Dubai designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, which is set inside a cuboid glass building that’s punctuated by an irregularly shaped void.
      Also on the shortlist is The Farmstead at Royal Malewane, an intimate lodge that looks out over the tree canopies of a national park in South Africa, and The Oberoi Marrakech, which is nestled amongst 28 acres of Mediterranean gardens and citrus trees.

      Additionally on the AHEAD MEA 2020 shortlist is The Farmstead at Royal Malewane
      This year – due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – the final stages of judging will take place over a series of video calls between 30 September to 1 October, where those on the panel will review projects one last time before deciding on their favourites from each category.
      Winners will then be announced on 9 November at the awards’ inaugural “hybrid” event, which will involve a digital screening for overseas audience members and a localised on-the-ground ceremony for people part of the AHEAD MEA community.
      See the full shortlist below:
      Bar, Club or Lounge
      Archer Bar & Eatery at Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South AfricaTwenty Three Rooftop Bar at Grand Plaza Mövenpick Media City, Dubai, UAESiddharta Lounge by Buddha Bar at W Muscat, OmanSt. Trop at Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre, UAE
      Guestrooms
      Four Seasons Hotel Doha, QatarLekkerwater Beach Lodge, De Hoop Nature Reserve, South AfricaThe Farmstead at Royal Malewane, Hoedspruit, South AfricaThe Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi, UAE
      Hotel Newbuild
      Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South AfricaME Dubai at Opus, UAEThe Museum Hotel Antakya, TurkeyThe Social House Nairobi, Kenya
      Landscaping & Outdoor Spaces
      Anantara Sahara Tozeur Resort & Villas, TunisiaLe Palais Ronsard, Marrakech, MoroccoThe Farmstead at Royal Malewane, Hoedspruit, South AfricaThe Oberoi Marrakech, Morocco
      Lobby & Public Spaces
      Le Palais Ronsard, Marrakech, MoroccoMarriott Hotel Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South AfricaME Dubai at Opus, UAEVida Hotel Emirates Hills, Dubai, UAE
      Lodges, Cabins & Tented Camps
      Abelana River Lodge, Phalaborwa, South AfricaandBeyond Ngala Treehouse, Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South AfricaHabitas NamibiaKing’s Pool, Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, BotswanaLepogo Lodges’ Noka Camp, South AfricaPuku Ridge, South Luangwa National Park, ZambiaZannier Hotels Sonop, Namibia
      Renovation, Restoration & Conversion
      andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, Namibrand Nature Reserve, NamibiaFour Seasons Hotel Doha, QatarLe Palais Ronsard, Marrakech, MoroccoLong Lee Manor, Shamwari Private Game Reserve, South Africa
      Resort
      Al Wathba, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa, Abu Dhabi, UAEAnantara Sahara Tozeur Resort & Villas, TunisiaThe Oberoi Marrakech, MoroccoW Muscat, Oman
      Restaurant
      Bull & Bear at Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre, UAEKeystone at Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South AfricaMina’s Kitchen at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi, UAENammos Restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Dubai, UAE
      Restaurant
      Bull & Bear at Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre, UAEKeystone at Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South AfricaMina’s Kitchen at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi, UAENammos Restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Dubai, UAE
      Suite
      Anantara Sahara Tozeur Resort & Villas, TunisiaFour Seasons Hotel Doha, QatarLe Palais Ronsard, Marrakech, MoroccoMarriott Hotel Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South Africa

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      The Maker Hotel in Hudson channels “old-world bohemian glamour”

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      Original decor features and vintage treasures helped Lev Glazman, Alina Roytberg and Damien Janowicz create an eclectic sense of old-world charm inside this boutique hotel in Hudson, New York.Host to just 11 rooms, The Maker Hotel is the brainchild of Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, the co-founders of skincare brand Fresh, and hospitality specialist Damien Janowicz.

      The Maker Hotel takes over three historic buildings in Hudson
      This isn’t the first time that Glazman and Roytberg have ventured out of the beauty industry – back in 2016 they also worked with Janowicz to open the doors to Bartlett House, a bakery-cum-cafe serving seasonal dishes in the town of Ghent, New York.

      When it came to creating The Maker Hotel, Glazman wanted to focus on “celebrating the world of makers”, utilising different forms of craftsmanship to foster unique spaces for guests.

      A newly built conservatory houses the hotel’s restaurant
      “During my travels, I always felt there was an opportunity to expand the hospitality experience – one that inspires and allows you to dream,” he explained. “We knew we could execute The Maker concept in Hudson because the area was so rich with artisans, history and design, and it was the perfect location.”
      “Moving away from standardized design, The Maker fuses different periods, and builds a home where this eclectic design can exist harmoniously,” Glazman added.

      Inside The Maker Hotel are just 11 guest rooms
      Construction works were first carried out to connect the various rooms throughout the 14,000-square foot (1,300 square metres) hotel, which is composed of three different buildings – a Georgian mansion, a Greek revival-style property and a carriage house that dates back to the early 1800s.
      New structural additions were also made, including a central courtyard filled with lush greenery and a “jewel box”-like conservatory that now accommodates The Maker Hotel’s main restaurant.

      The design team worked to keep as many original features as possible throughout the rooms
      Attention was then turned to the interiors, which were largely designed by Glazman – Roytberg focused on the hotel’s branding, while Janowicz worked on refining guest experience.

      The Hoxton crosses the pond and opens hotel in Williamsburg

      Glazman and the design team sought to keep to as many original features as possible, preserving the ornate fireplaces, hand-painted ceilings, stained-glass windows and tiled mosaic flooring that already existed across the three buildings.

      One room includes bookshelves and an oak fireplace
      Over 70 per cent of the decorative pieces are antique or were made bespoke by combining salvaged objects. Some of the artworks even come from Glazman’s personal collection.
      “The result is unexpected; an old-world bohemian glamour that fuses a worldly design ethos shaped by decades of travel,” he concluded.

      Most of the decor elements are antiques
      This same eclectic style seeps through to the guest suites, of which there are five typologies: The Bedrooms, The Terrace Lofts, The Corner Studio and The Maker Studios.
      The Maker Studios are each inspired by four different creative figures – an architect, artist, gardener, writer – and have been styled accordingly. For example, The Artist room includes a vintage easel, while The Writer room sees book-lined shelves arranged around an oak fireplace.
      When not in their rooms, guests can then enjoy the hotel’s pool, cafe or intimate cocktail bar.

      The Maker Hotel also includes an intimate cocktail bar
      The Maker Hotel joins a growing number of getaway spots in New York that are situated away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. Others include The Hoxton in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which sits on the site of an old water tower.
      Photography is by Francine Zaslow.

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      Birch hotel by Red Deer takes over an 18th-century English mansion

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      Architecture studio Red Deer carried out an understated overhaul of a centuries-old mansion near Hertfordshire, England to form the Birch hotel, which is designed to challenge the idea of luxury.Birch is set on a 55-acre estate in the English town of Cheshunt, occupying a heritage-listed brick mansion that dates back to 1763.

      Red Deer has designed the Birch hotel in Cheshunt with slightly stripped back guest rooms
      The 140-room hotel is the brainchild of entrepreneur Chris King and former managing director of London’s Ace Hotel, Chris Penn, with interiors by architecture studio Red Deer.

      While respecting the grandiose nature of the mansion, the studio wanted Birch to shift perceptions of luxury hotels.

      Each bedroom contains a bespoke valet stand. Photo by Fergus Coyle
      “[We] consider the term ‘luxury’ as degraded through overuse, and the parameters of what constitutes a ‘luxury hotel’ can be tricky to define,” said Red Deer.
      “For [us], luxury comes from the creation of a meaningful emotional connection between the hotel guest and the space they inhabit.”

      The cinema room has striped deck chairs
      “As the landscape for luxury hospitality has evolved, the onus is now focused on creating a unique and personalised one-to-one experience for guests,” it continued.
      “Hotels aren’t just bedrooms with smart technology, but memory-making experiences that create value and loyalty.”

      Birch has a spacious coworking area
      The guest rooms of the Birch hotel are therefore slightly stripped back in appearance, finished with white-painted walls, exposed-wire lights and simple rattan headboards.
      TVs and work desks have also been purposefully omitted so that guests can completely detach from the stresses of everyday life.

      The coworking space has patchy plaster walls
      Each room includes a bespoke valet stand that Red Deer commissioned London-based designer Jan Hendzel to make alongside designer Charlotte Kidger, ceramicist Emma Louise Payne and metalsmith Lucie Naujalis.
      The stands are anchored by colourful orb or pill-shaped bases that Kidger has crafted from waste plastic, held in by sycamore and ash wood frames made by Hendzel.

      Red Deer commissioned local artists to create a series of unique spaces
      Spokes of the frame extend up to form clothes hooks, balance flower vases by Payne or support hand-beaten copper bowls by Naujalis that can hold knick-knacks like keys or cash.

      Red Deer and Jan Hendzel Studio combine ceramics, beaten copper and recycled plastic for hotel valet stands

      “It felt crucial to bring local artists and makers on-board to work on the interior projects and create some truly unique pieces to be enjoyed by the guests, challenging the idea that uniformity was essential for large batch runs of furniture,” added the studio.

      Original details were retained in the hotel where possible
      Throughout the rest of the hotel Red Deer has tried to “only intervene where it counted”, contradicting the typical “wastefulness” associated with luxury spaces.
      Several spaces still boast the building’s original panelled walls and ornate cornicing. This includes the mint-green cinema room, where guests are invited to sit and watch the latest films or documentaries from striped deck chairs.

      The communal spaces contain original panelling
      The spacious coworking area has patchy plaster walls, while the reception room features elaborate wooden boiserie and floorboards marked with white-painted numbers left behind by builders from the building’s last renovation.
      Rather than trying to cover them up, Red Deer instead decided to keep them as a quirky design feature.
      The central concierge desk, which has a faceted blue-metal base, brings a modern touch to the room.

      The Gun Room is a private dining area
      “We wanted to take a light touch on the existing features and celebrate the Georgian building,” said ​Ciarán O’Brien, co-founder of Red Deer. ​
      “The building created a really strong backdrop, so we looked at each space from the point of what already existed,” he continued. “Any intervention within a space needed to work with that, and once you build that design story it allows us to imagine how that room will operate.”

      The Zebra Riding Club is one of three restaurants
      Other on-site experiences that guests can enjoy include an interactive bakery, a pottery workshop, fitness studios and an open-air swimming pool.
      There are also three restaurants: Zebra Riding Club, which will serve “unfussy” dishes made with ingredients from Birch’s farm, The Gun Room, a wood-lined private dining room that seats just eight guests and Valeries, an all-day eatery that features sky-blue walls and chandeliers dangling from the ceiling.
      Red Deer is based between London and Barcelona and was founded by Lionel Real de Azúa, Ciarán O’Brien and Lucas Che Tizard.
      Previous projects by the studio include a pastel-green pasta restaurant and a virtual reality arcade which has neon interiors inspired by the work of artist James Turrell.
      Photography is by Adam Firman unless stated otherwise.

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      Decada Muebles spotlights local craft inside Mexico's Escondido Oaxaca Hotel

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      Interiors studio Decada Muebles has filled this boutique hotel in Oaxaca City, Mexico with pieces made by the region’s artisans.A majority of the Escondido Oaxaca Hotel takes over a former family home that dates back to the 19th century.
      Inside are four of the hotel’s total 12 guest rooms – the last eight are located just beyond the house within a more contemporary concrete tower erected by architect Alberto Kalach.

      The Escondido Oaxaca Hotel lobby. Top image: a bedroom in the concrete tower
      This mixture of old and new influenced Decada Muebles’ design of the hotel, which has been almost exclusively decked out with pieces crafted by local craft makers.

      “We wanted to create a feeling of timelessness inside an authentic Oaxacan house, where the guests could feel the presence of a craftsman’s hand through their work in every nook and cranny,” the interior design studio told Dezeen.
      “With a mix of minimalism and clean lines in our furniture choices, and the lush landscaping and garden design, we aimed to maximize the possibility of relaxation and sense of serenity as the underlying state while at the hotel.”

      The hotel restaurant features green cement tiles
      Guests enter the hotel via the old house, walking through a spacious lobby that’s dotted with oversized terracotta plant pots.
      Red bricks run across the floor, while the walls are loosely rendered with stucco – faded patches of paint left behind from the house’s old fit-out are still visible.
      These rustic walls continue through into the restaurant, which serves up a menu of Mexican fusion food.

      The split-level culture room features stucco walls
      Local craftsmen have used Sabino, a Mexican wood, to make the tables and chairs that appear throughout the room. They complement a gridded timber shelving unit that openly displays liquor bottles and glassware.
      The floor here is clad with locally sourced green-cement tiles – the colour was specifically chosen in a subtle nod to Cantera, a green-hued volcanic rock that’s native to Oaxaca and used to build several of its buildings and roads.

      The concrete facade of the new tower
      When they’re not relaxing around the pool, which is up on the roof, guests can head to the split-level “culture room”.
      It includes a small library and a cosy sofa area decorated with earth-tone vases.

      Bedrooms feature sabino wood furniture
      Guest rooms in the old house and the concrete tower have been finished in the same material palette that’s been applied throughout Escondido Oaxaca Hotel’s communal spaces.

      Monte Uzulu is a boutique hotel in the Oaxacan jungle by Taller Lu’um and At-te

      Green-tinted cement tiles cover surfaces in the en-suite bathrooms and sabino wood has been used to create the rooms’ side tables, bed frames and shutters, which can be pushed back to reveal balconies or foliage-filled patios.
      Details like the woven palm leaf headboards were also custom made in Oaxaca.

      A bedroom opening onto a courtyard
      Escondido Oaxaca Hotel is longlisted in the hotel and short-stay category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      It will compete against the likes of Trunk House, a boutique hotel in Tokyo that includes a miniature disco, and Casa Palerm, a guest villa in Mallorca which is fronted by a huge cinema screen-like window.
      Photography is by Undine Pröhl.

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      The Wayfinder hotel designed to “feel as if you were staying with friends” in Rhode Island

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      New York design practice Reunion Goods & Services has renovated this hotel in Rhode Island to be reminiscent of a colourful home with a fireplace and cosy seating nooks.Formerly the Mainstay Hotel, The Wayfinder property is located in Newport and was refurbished by Reunion Goods & Services for developer Dovetail + Co. It includes 197 suites, a restaurant, lounge, patio and outdoor swimming pool.

      Reunion Goods & Services designed the hotel to be evocative of a house rather than a hotel and sought to optimise the amount of natural light. White walls are enlivened with a variety of colours like burnt red, blue, green and mustard.

      “The goal of this project was to freshen the spaces and bring as much light into the rooms as possible,” the team said. “The intent was always for the rooms to feel as if you were staying with friends or at a summer house.”

      The rest of the interior design is a combination of existing details, like stone and terrazzo floors with wood-panelled walls, alongside woven and wooden furniture pieces for a relaxed yet playful feel.
      The lobby features its original white terrazzo flooring with a new dark blue ceiling for contrast, while a free-standing fireplace in mustard with a glass enclosure is the focal point. It is surrounded by a custom white sofa in a U-shape.

      The hotel rooms have a paler palette reflective of the hotel’s beach location with off-white walls and chair railing in soft blue and green tones.

      Tourists hotel in The Berkshires takes cues from classic American motor lodges

      Continuing the relaxed, residential aesthetic is a lounge area with couches, pouffes, indoor plants, chairs, woven roller shades and woven cane dining chairs. Colourful fabrics enliven the space with its stone floors, while window trim is teal.

      The sitting area joins the hotel restaurant Nomi Park, which has bolder colours like red-tiled walls, burnt orange leather banquettes, a bar clad in light blue tiles and dining benches upholstered in a cheetah print.
      The wood dining chairs in dark blue are made locally by O & G Studio that is one of the emerging studios based in Rhode Island.

      Art by more local artists rounds out the interiors, including a piece in the restaurant by Mea Duke and a mural outside in the patio near the swimming pool by Sean Spellman. Others artists whose work is displayed are Catherine Druken, Jenn Shore, Jenny Brown and Liz Kelley.

      In addition to the Wayfinder hotel, other boutique accommodations in small towns and rural areas of the Northeastern United States are Tourists hotel in Massachusetts’ Berkshires region, Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, Sound View on Long Island and Troutbeck hotel by Champalimaud.
      Photography is by Read McKendree.

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      The Other Season applies natural palette to boutique hotel by Dutch seaside

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      Linen, bamboo and sandy-beige tones appear throughout Strandhotel Zoomers in the Netherlands, which has been designed by creative studio The Other Season.Strandhotel Zoomers huddles up against the sandy dunes of Castricum beach in north Holland.
      The hotel was completed by Dutch practice Breddels Architecten at the beginning of 2020 and features a facade clad with different-hued strips of timber.

      Creative studio The Other Season has applied a similarly warm and natural material palette throughout the hotel’s interior, which accommodates 12 guest rooms.

      Smaller rooms have views of the dunes, while larger rooms are orientated to overlook the calming ocean waves. There’s also a large apartment-style room for families visiting with children.

      “The outside of the building reflects the inside of it; simple and pure with beautiful nuances in colours that make you feel welcome and at ease,” said the studio, which is led by Jasmijn Boots and Marry Broersen.
      “We chose natural patterns, colours and materials for the flooring, doors and window coverings like bamboo and wood, as they reflect the wooden covering on the exterior of the hotel and of course the tones of the grasses and sand in the dunes.”

      Each room boasts simple white walls and an exposed concrete ceiling, but has been exclusively decorated with products from Dutch design brand HK Living.
      Taupe or maroon-striped scatter cushions have been used to dress the beds, as well as sandy-beige linen throws.

      Photo by Enstijl
      Storage is provided by bamboo-panelled cupboards, complementing the bamboo armchairs that appear underneath the rooms’ writing desks or beside the windows.

      Space&Matter converts Amsterdam’s bridge keeper’s houses into hotel rooms

      Shell-shaped ornaments, amber-hued vases and woven rugs have also been used as decor, along with oversized lamps that have been printed to feature spindly illustrations of faces.

      There’s no on-site restaurant at Strandhotel Zoomers, but instead a cosy breakfast room where guests can enjoy beverages and snacks.
      Wood has been used to craft the room’s prep counter, cabinetry and central dining table, which is surrounded by white wire-frame seats.
      More food is available just a stone’s throw away at the hotel’s sister company Beach Pavilion Zoomer.

      Other spots to stay around the Netherlands include Kazerne in Eindhoven, which has just eight guest rooms and an exhibition space that displays works from the city’s leading creatives.
      There’s also the Sweets Hotel in Amsterdam, which takes over a series of vacant canal-side bridge keeper’s houses in Amsterdam. It won the hotel and short-stay interior category at the 2019 edition of the Dezeen Awards, where it was praised by judges for “questioning the idea of hotels in the era of Airbnb”.
      Photography is courtesy of The Other Season and One Two Studio unless stated otherwise.

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      Sivak & Partners imagines contemporary beachside guest suite in Odessa

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      Craggy rock walls and a hot-spring style bathtub would feature in this imaginary Odessa hotel room that interior design studio Sivak & Partners has envisioned in a series of renderings.The guest suite would come as part of a boutique beach hotel in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa that Sivak & Partners’ chief designer, Alexey Gulesha, was challenged to create just over a year ago.
      He decided to share the studio’s renderings when the global coronavirus crisis began and put a pause on the design process.
      “This project started from the idea to make something different from other hotels in Odessa – the client had bought a plot and asked us to design something which we wanted to see there, so this is our proposal,” Gulesha told Dezeen.

      Influenced by the dazzling settings seen in James Bond films from the 1980s, Gulesha has envisioned the guest suite as being fronted by a curved, full-height window that offers sweeping vistas of the sandy shoreline and rolling ocean waves.

      In almost every room he has tried to foster a sense of “tactile contrast” – for example, in the bedroom, the hard stone floor is topped with a fluffy cream-coloured rug. A plump bed frame has also been placed beside a couple of Italian architect Cini Boeri’s glass Ghost chairs.

      “I like to draw people’s attention to the fact that the materials to the touch may not be what they seem visually,” Gulesha explained.
      “The Cini Boeri’s armchairs look like a cold piece of glass, but they are surprisingly convenient and comfortable when you sit in them.”

      A wall that resembles a craggy cliff face would feature in the study. Other than a simple steel desk and wooden chair, Gulesha has largely omitted standard office paraphernalia so that guests would be more inclined to spend relaxing time down on the beach instead of doing work.
      “The idea of the materials is that in this digital era, when work means sitting on the PC and answering email for two to three hours, I want to see and feel something natural,” added Gulesha.

      A focal point of the suite is the circular tub in the bathroom, which would slope up from the stone floors to make guests feel like they’re “bathing in a hot spring”.
      Bathroom facilities would be housed inside a see-through volume that, using smart-glass technology, would turn opaque whenever in use.

      Architectural visualisers imagine rainbow-coloured Sonora Art Village during pandemic

      The suite would also include a small kitchenette, should future guests not want to dine at the hotel’s restaurant. At its centre would be a timber prep counter that balances across a pair of chunky stone blocks.
      A couple of rounded boucle sofas would then be used to dress the lounge area, along with a blush-pink abstract artwork that is meant to mirror the texture of the surrounding mottled plaster walls.

      The pandemic has encouraged several architects and designers to turn to the medium of renderings and imagine getaway destinations.
      Siblings Mary and David Javit imagined Sonora Art Village, a community of rainbow-coloured houses in Mexico where people could head to escape “grey reality”. Inspired by the vivid architecture of figures like Luis Barragán and Ricardo Boffil, the houses would be surrounded by cacti and swimming pools.
      Child Studio also imagined Casa Plenaire, a blissful seaside villa where those in lockdown could picture enjoying the “perfect holiday”.

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      CL3 unveils interior design for Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City

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      Sailing and nautical aesthetics informed CL3’s interiors for the Intercontinental hotel in the Raffles City Chongqing complex in China, which includes guest rooms that draw on the design of yacht cabins.Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City is located in the Raffles City Chongqing development, which features a “horizontal skyscraper,” the Crystal skybridge that connects four 250-metre tall skyscrapers.
      The hotel’s location in the city’s Chaotianmen area, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet, was the starting point for the designers.
      “The project has a geographical and historical significance by being where the ancient emperor sent his fleet to meet the people,” CL3  said.

      This nautical past not only informed the design of the eight streamlined skyscrapers that make up the Raffles City Chongqing complex, which features sail-like screens, it was also carried through into the interior design.

      CL3 was approached to create the interiors after working with architect Moshdie Safdie of Safdie Architects on the Marina Bay Sands project, and designed the interiors of the hotel’s main areas as well as the residential lobby and common areas for five of the towers.

      The studio was also responsible for the design of the residential clubhouse inside the signature Crystal skybridge that connects four of the towers.
      Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City’s grand reception is located on level 42 at the skybridge and nods to the sailing theme with a reception desk shaped like the hull of a ship, complemented by lighting in the same shape.

      “The shape design echoes the water reflection during sailing in the river,” the studio said. The link bridge reception area was also decorated with marine-themed Chinese motifs and crafts.
      In the arrival lobby area, CL3 added stylised drawings of traditional ships to the mirrored walls of the elevators.

      The lobby lounge was designed to create a “mountain landscape in the sky” and filled with green plants under an arc-shaped dome.
      It features views of the skybridge that stretches across the skyscrapers, which visitors can enjoy from enveloping seats in pale wood with an undulating, wave-like shape.

      For the interior of the hotel rooms, the studio used pale wood combined with beige and cream colours and softly curved walls.
      “The inspiration from the timeless ultra-luxury of contemporary sailing vessels is reflected in the ambience, furniture selections, finishes and guest rooms, ” CL3 said.

      The nautical theme is less apparent in the Jing restaurant, which has a dark stone floor and peacock blue detailing.
      The distinctive bar, where guests can sit and enjoy a meal, has been decked out in pale blue, bright blue and white stripes that pick up the blue hues in rest of the room.

      CL3 was also behind some of the residential areas in the complex, including the residential clubhouse inside the Crystal skybridge itself which has a swimming pool, gym and a spa, as well as private function rooms.
      Rattan lounge chairs with blue upholstery surround the pool, whose “modern shape and light colours reflect the rhythm of urban life,” the studio said.

      CL3 was founded in 1992. The studio is based in Hong Kong but also has offices in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai.
      As well as the Raffles City Chongqing complex, Safdie Architects also designed a housing development in the city, Eling Hill, consisting of a set of stepped homes on a hill overlooking the Yangtze River.
      Photography is by Feng Shao.
      Project credits:
      Client: CapitalandProject name: Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles CityProject location: No. 2 Changjiang Binjiang Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, China 400010Completion time: 2020Interior design firm: CL3 ArchitectsInterior design team: William Lim, Jane Arnett, Simon Ho, Jun Tse, Katerin TheysArchitecture design firm: Safdie Architects

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