Shanghai Huadu Architecture & Urban Planning Co ltd have been successfully shortlisted into the International Hotel & Property Awards 2015. Their project ‘APEC Beijing Sunrise Kempinski Hotel’ has been shortlisted for the Hotel over 200 Rooms (Global) Award.

The leading Architect worked with his team of 60 designers from across the globe, including the UK, Italy, Spain, the US, Holland and the Philippines, who spent 60 days brilliantly developing this amazing building design. “We had an international team because we needed a critical view from people outside of China to give their opinion on modern contemporary Chinese architectural design and to enable us to broaden our ideas on how we can use our design to showcase the Chinese culture to the world,” said the Leading Architect.

A nature inspired hotel fitting into Chinese culture and the context, the Sunrise Kempinski Hotel Beijing sits on Yanqi Lake with the top of the building reflecting the colour of the sky, the middle of the building reflects the Yanshan Mountain, and the bottom of the building reflects the lake. The exterior glass surface, which is covered by over 10,000 pieces of glass panels, spans 18,075 square metres (194,558 sq ft).

The front view is that of the ‘Rising Sun’ (round shape), symbolic of the fast-developing economy of China. The entrance of the hotel is shaped like the mouth of a fish, symbolising prosperity. From a side-angle view, the hotel building is shaped like a scallop, which represents ‘Fortune’ in Chinese culture. Other Chinese cultural elements are also used in the design details; for example, the side of the building embraces the concept of traditional Chinese panes.

The roof of floor three (where the main round building starts) is a free-form shape, like a cloud. The whole picture then embraces the theme of ‘The Cloud lifting the Sun’.

In the past, Chinese people would stand in awe of the sun, which they believed to reflect the core values of Chinese philosophy – that mankind is an integral part of nature and in order to be harmonious, nature should be respected. In China, a circle means the start and the continuity of the life. The close relationship of mountains and the lake is one of the biggest advantages in the design process. Starting from the idea of learning from the nature, using undulated soft form, the whole building can be dissolved into the landscape. The shape of the building represents a sun rising upon the lake from which the nature beauty can be achieved by adapting the form into the surrounding, giving a metaphysical idea to people.

“We need the architecture that can represent the soul of Chinese culture, namely the idea of learning from nature. We not only have to consider the ‘connection’ between the main building and the environment, it is a hotel complex that also involves a private island, so, a vivid visual needs to be created for the guests – resulting in, when a guest looks at Yanqi Lake Kempinski from Yanqi Island, it will really give our guests the beautiful picture of sunrise and sunset,” said the leading Architect.