Beijing Tongying Center InterContinental Hotel

Designed for the modern and discerning yuppie generation, the 150-metre-high Beijing Tongying Center InterContinental Hotel lies at the heart of fashion and culture centre Sanlitun, Beijing.

Lighting consultant GD-Lighting Design was commissioned to create a rich level of spatial experience with vertical lighting and indirect lighting for this luxury hotel.

The hotel is distinguished by its honeycomb diamond-shaped steel and glass façades and a huge hexagonal double-layer glass awning at the entrance. Working with the architect’s concepts, the lighting designers chose Tiffany Blue as the core colour for the awning lighting. This was integrated with the blooming and washing lighting effects caused by ultra-white glass and glass folders to create distinct layers and differentiate the building from the surrounding colourful environment for greater visual impact. At night, the building’s skin comes alive to create mesmerising LED light shows.

There are two large glass boxes with built-in custom crystal screens, which are set symmetrically at the entrance of the hotel. The screen comprises numerous crystal pieces, arranged in various sizes and orientations. These crystal pieces are illuminated from the top and bottom by linear luminaries, creating a three-dimensional sparkling image.

LIGHT AND SHADOWS
Upon entering the hotel, one is greeted by sky-high glass and crystal bookshelves and screens that lend a storybook-like dramatic effect to the long and narrow lobby, while partitioning it into more intimate zones. Devices, sculptures and artworks are scattered throughout, creating an avant-garde space with a harmonious combination of retro and modern. With the vastness of space, light is used to draw attention to the small design details on the shelves and below.

There are seven restaurants in the hotel, from Chinese restaurant to steakhouse and beer bar to dessert store. Decorative and accent lighting were used to carve and shape seven different types of temperament, styles and dining atmosphere, according to the respective restaurants’ interior decoration and characteristics.

The 300 hotel rooms have open wardrobes, carpets and furnishings in soft warm tones. The room’s walls are rounded for a sensual appeal and a sense of expanded space. Various indirect lighting are hidden in the ceilings, wall corners and screens to create an air of artistic elegance.

The executive lounge’s warm and layered lighting creates a comfortable refuge from the frenetic bustle of the city. The lit bookshelves and the lightoutlined glass screens are linked with the linear tape lights in the ceiling to divide and organise the spaces transparently. The neutral colour backdrop is interrupted by the pop of blue and yellow from the soft furnishing.

CHALLENGES AND CONSIDERATIONS
The hotel is located opposite a residential building about 50 metres away, so it was crucial to ensure that the lighting did not overpower the neighbours. The designers adopted façade material for the hotel interior to reduce the light brightness and reflection. The number of street-facing ceiling lamps was also reduced, relying instead on ground and decorative lighting to create the space atmosphere.

The decorative lamps are customised according to interior design requirements and the functional lamps are mainly domestically sourced, which helped to reduce the budget cost while meeting functional requirements.

Some of the challenges faced included the limited sizes of furniture and other structures, and how to cleverly hide the lamps. The designers designed a large number of nodes between metal, wood, stone and special material structures, as well as hidden lamps. Through testing and discussions with the interior designers, they selected the best way to install and hide the electrical equipment to make the completed surface as simple and beautiful as possible.

Any decoration or material modification might subvert the original design of light. Hence, many ongoing adjustments and design corrections had to be done on-site, such as the addition of the lighting for the art screen, bookshelves and art wall. To better display the newly added art wall, slots had to be opened on the natural marble floor to add the ground slot lighting. All these were only possible with the required coordination, communication and cooperation between all parties.

PROJECT DATA
Project Name: Beijing Tongying Center InterContinental Hotel
Location: Sanlitun, Beijing, China
Completion Date: August 2016
Client/Owner/Developer: Beijing Topwin Real Estate Co., Ltd
Architecture Firms: HOK; CAG
Interior Design Firms: Cheng Chung Design (HK) Ltd; AB Concept
Lighting Consultant: Grand Sight Design International Ltd (GD-Lighting Design)
Lead Lighting Designer: Yenchin Wang
Images: Zhi Xia; Cheng Chung Design (HK) Ltd; GD-Lighting Design