Wheat Youth Arts Hotel

The Wheat Youth Arts Hotel is a hotel for the young and the young at heart. The goal was to design whimsical and playful social spaces that engage visitors and inspire interactions.

The boutique hotel is located on several floors of a shopping mall in Binjiang District, Hangzhou, which is a new technology and commercial area. The hotel’s entry way is a white wall with black stylised Chinese characters reading mai jian, which means ‘wheat’.

The lobby is designed like a lounge and study area, lined with black bookshelves that curve up to the ceiling, while a folded partition behind the reception desk separates a private reading area. Modern furnishing, such as yellow benches and green and black chairs, create nooks for socialising. A big black dog sculpture, with a leash tied to the reception table, creates a queue line.

True to its name, the hotel is a place where music, painting and reading abounds. A piano in the corridor of every floor encourages guests to share the charm of music as a form of communication between strangers.

The hotel was designed in a minimalist style, with white walls and white wood flooring to achieve the best design results within its budget. The long white corridors with recessed footlights form a clean backdrop for eye-catching forms of art.

Unusual displays include a showcase with white hotel toiletries and amenities, greeting visitors with a bright orange-yellow “hello” emblazoned on the glass; a three-dimensional world map made from Chinese checkers; black webbing or colourful checkers hanging from the ceiling; and bright splashes of colour at different corners. The hotel’s café is stocked with books along its dark grey walls, while seven small wooden figures hang from oversized dome-shaped ceiling fixtures that resemble parachutes.

The rooms are equipped with simple and functional Scandinavian-style furnishings. The functions and aesthetics of the desk, bed and clothes hanger combine with one another smartly. A folded headboard wraps each bed, which is separated from an en-suite bathroom by glass walls. An easel next to the window is specially prepared for guests to leave their creative mark. The TV is hidden by a huge sliding painting with greetings on it.

PROJECT DATA
Project Name: Wheat Youth Arts Hotel
Location: 9, Tai’an Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Completion Date: August 2016
Gross Floor Area: 4,500 square metres
Number of Rooms: 80
Interior Design Firm: X+Living
Design Director: Li Xiang
Design Team: Fan Chen; Chen Dan; Wu Feng; Zhang Xiao; Ren Li-Jiao
Images: Shao Feng