Winner: HOK International (Asia/Pacific) Ltd.
Award: Honor Award for Architecture
The project includes a 305-key InterContinental Hotel, 48 luxury apartments and a 430,555-sq.-m. boutique retail mall.
Challenged by a narrow site, the designers drafted a tapered silhouette at the two ends of the tower with a linear silhouette at the building’s core. The resulting form creates a dramatic exterior that offers uninterrupted panoramic views for hotel guests.
The hotel’s facade features a hexagon-patterned steel structure integrated with LED lights that give the tower a distinctive honeycombed texture by day. At night, the building’s skin comes alive to create mesmerizing light shows.
Located within the hotel’s linear massing, the hotel’s guestrooms face stunning views of the Forbidden City and Beijing’s energetic financial district to the west and its vibrant local cultural district in the east. Suites on the north and south ends of the building feature a triangular floor arrangement that offer 270-degree, panoramic city views. The dramatic hotel entrance boasts one of Beijing’s largest revolving doors as a grand entrance into the lobby. The hotel restaurant’s patio allows diners to experience the neighborhood’s hustle and bustle.
To keep traffic flows distinct within the building, the design team created separate entrances for retail, hotel and residential users. The four basement floors incorporate guest parking, storage, mechanical systems, staff training rooms and other operational functions. Separate lifts for servicing the kitchen and other staff ensure efficient service and user flow.
To enhance sustainability, the building uses materials designed to reduce energy consumption through minimizing solar heat gain and glare.