The Place, like its name, brands itself as a hotel that creates a unique visitor experienced that embodies the specific identity of each place. This specificity of place is central to Mecanoo’s “People, Place, Purpose” design philosophy, which emphasizes users, a holistic understanding of the social, historical and physical context, and a response to current and future building functions. For each assignment, our goal is to seek out the secret of the location to create a unique design that strengthens the distinct identity of the context.
In keeping with this design philosophy, Mecanoo’s interiors for The Place hotels in other cities all embody a unique sense of place: The Place in Tainan reinterprets the historic city’s rich streetscape; in Yilan, the hotel is located in the National Center for Traditional Arts and draws its inspiration from local craftsmanship. By contrasting old and new, mixing of west and east, the hotel becomes a contemporary interpretation of a traditional art form.
The new intervention in Casa de São Lourenço is inseparable from the construction of Pousadas de Portugal network, with Pousada de São Lourenço, opened in 1948 in Serra da Estrela, 1200m high, leaning over the Glacier valley of the river Zêzere. This ambitious plan aimed at promoting the culture and customs of the various regions of Portugal, combining, for this purpose, the work of modern architects with regions’ traditional practices.
The Somiatruites project is that of two brothers, one architect and one chef, with the desire to embark on a journey together where cuisine and architecture would come together and transmit shared values of integration to a neighbourhood, a city, and a very specific sociocultural context.
The project began in 2013 with the refurbishment of an old tanning factory in the Rec de Igualada neighbourhood, transforming it into a restaurant.
The Rec neighbourhood, situated between the walls and the river, for more than five hundred years has been an area in which the large tanneries existed alongside small gardens in the riverside surroundings. Though there are still tanneries there producing what is considered to be one of the best leathers in the world, successive crises have left a great architectural heritage empty.
In the heart of Cape Town’s bustling CBD, the property at 118 St George’s mall is not one building, but a consolidation of two. A “Cape Edwardian” building, estimated to have been completed in the early 1940s, stands on the corner of St Georges Mall and Longmarket Street, and is flanked by an Art Deco counterpart which was designed by the architectural firm Walgate & Elsworth, who designed the Table Mountain Cableway stations, for the offices of the United Building Society and completed c1938. While the characteristic external elements of the existing buildings have remained unchanged, like the Edwardian teak windows, the Art Deco granite façade and the noteworthy bronze portal doors framing the entrance, the interiors were sadly destroyed in the decades of reuse and reinvention of the space.
noa* (network of architecture) rethink the family resort Ulrichshof and transform the former farmstead into an exploratory world of senses.
“Things were pretty much all there already, but elements were out of sight, they did not communicate with each other and were hiding beneath the forest, the farm and the existing hotel.”
– Stefan Rier
The team of architects, designers, psychologists, hunters, textile designers and lighting artists invented a bottom up-approach for the entire project. “things were pretty much all there already, but elements were out of sight, they did not communicate with each other and were hiding beneath the forest, the farm and the existing hotel”, explains Stefan Rier, co-founder of noa*.
Zhuhai, a city in South China, is experiencing tremendous growth due to the completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, making it a key city in China to benefit from the Big Bay Economic Zone.
Zhuhai Intercontinental Hotel is situation within a landmark development, the Yanlord Marina Centre located right on the coastline, within walking distance to the Macau border, and with a magnificent view to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the ocean beyond.
The hotel design commenced a few years ago, and the owner placed great importance on the lobby and public area design, and there upon enlisted CL3 Architects to revisit the design that has not met with the owner’s expectation.
Since ancient times, preeminent talents have been inseparably related to the lands that nurtured them. Located in Xili, Nanshan District, University Town of Shenzhen not only provides a free academic, artistic and humanistic environment, but also attracts Sheraton to settle in, which is the first international hotel entering this area. With such a humanistic setting, the hotel offers a spiritual habitat for the metropolitans.
Through comprehensive analysis of the surroundings, architecture, landscape and interiors, CCD utilized a holistic approach to define the urban “bleisure” hotel. Design elements extracted from the architectural blocks are utilized to the spatial layout, so as to add a sense of three-dimensional structure to the space. Moreover, lifestyle elements are also applied to the interior design, making the hotel more relevant to daily life.
This architecture is about “shadow”. It’s a hotel named “Ninja Black”.
The site is located in the city center of Kyoto, just west of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, in an area populated with houses, small shops, apartment buildings, and hotels. We planned a small hotel of five floors with 21 rooms, on a plot of land typical in Kyoto, nine meters wide by 35 meters deep. The client for the design is from the nearby city of Kouga, known for centuries as home to ninja. He may well even be a descendant of ninja.
What does “ninja” mean for us in this design? Throughout their history, ninja have always lived in, and been associated with, “shadow”, where they can’t be seen, yet can still perform their role. Thus, this hotel’s design concept of “shadow” was born: mysterious, shadowy, and silent, yet with a strong presence.
Guryongpo is a place, which has the legend of falling a dragon out of ten dragons arise from the sea to sky. Since it has rich fishery resources such as whales, crabs, and squids, it became a harbor to plunder under the Japanese colonial era. Japanese House street, where it was made at that time, still exists. One side of Guryongpo harbor is crowded with many small restaurant and pubs but on the other side, relax space such as Ara square is mixed.
The client had run a small restaurant in front of the breakwater since she married 30 years ago. Now, she wanted to make that spot into a small hotel, where is the place to watch the sea. Because of being possessed by that sea view, we stared design under the small budget. We imagined a hideaway place to do nothing but watch the sea view. Not so much design is needed the site, where adjoin the sea. We tried to make a place to feel the sea and listen to the sound of the wave without any artificial obstacles except a single glass.
Zhongshan, known as Heung-san in ancient time, was an isolated sea island rumored to have been an earthly heaven boasting many a celestial flower. With the endeavor and commitment of generations of great figures in the history, Zhongshan has become an agreeable city to live and a leader in commercial and cultural development nationwide. Le Méridien Zhongshan is located in Gangkou Town of Zhongshan City, with monuments, temples, modern shopping malls and verdant wetland parks all close by. As the first five-star destination of business trip in North Gate of Zhongshan urban area, the 100 meter high-rise of 24 floors is regarded as the most impressive skyline of Gangkou Town.
BLVD always treat entrusted projects with good-will and resolution by exploring the past of the city and savor locally exclusivehuman and social cultures, the design approach perfectly aligned with “Destination Unlocked”, the brand idea of Le Méridien. The design unveils the cultural glamour of this historic town with new visions, throwing guests to the past when the city was called Heung-san. Inspired by “mountains”, it infuses fun and excitement into the hotel and arouses curiosity and a spirit of adventure with French elegance of Le Méridien.
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