Guangzhou's Boutique Hotel

A four-storey concrete building has transformed into hotel, an industrial, minimalist boutique hotel geared towards design-savvy young travellers.

The neighborhood has lots of texture and colour, and is full of history. It’s located in the centre of Guangzhou’s old town, which makes it different from a typical commercial area. Since the site is close to surrounding buildings, its shape is rather unusual and gave the architect a chance to create a unique layout. The form of the building is also quite distinctive.

In order to echo the town’s traditional residences, they kept original grey bricks on the existing facade. Additionally, they adjusted the size of windows and doors to let in more light and maximise views onto the streets outside. The existing beams and columns are simple and clean. They wanted to preserve the beauty of these existing concrete structures, so they incorporated them into the interior design by leaving them exposed. The guest rooms are furnished with basswood plywood, and they chose meranti plywood to contrast the exposed concrete in the public area. They designed it this way to maintain the industrial aesthetic of the original architecture, and to work within the relatively low budget.

The hotel attracts those who love the charm of the old town and admire the contrast between old and new minimalist designs. Although the hotel is pretty small, there are different types of rooms. Of the 11 rooms available, there’s the capsule or single room, deluxe double room and loft with its own courtyard.