Intimate luxury, highly-personalized service and a touch of Italian style. The Middle House is the fourth House under Swire Hotels’ award-winning The House Collective, located in the heart of Shanghai’s popular commercial district and near the city’s fashionable Nanjing Road: an elegant and calm oasis with outdoor spaces and terraces, amidst the dynamic backdrop of one of Asia’s most sophisticated cities.
The hotel includes 111 rooms, restaurants, events space, swimming pools and spa, and the Middle House Residences consists of 102 serviced apartments comprising studios as well as one- and two-bedroom units.
To enrich that exclusive atmosphere, the Italian touch is expressed by the work of Piero Lissoni and Lissoni Architettura, which includes the façade concept and the interior design of all public spaces, guestrooms and mid-stay apartments of two tower buildings originally constructed by architects Wong and Ouyang.
First, the façade system is conceived as an array of rounded aluminum louvers, which provide shade and privacy to guestrooms and a vibrant, textured finish to the carefully positioned wall cladding, so distinguishing the two buildings within the context of the surrounding commercial towers.
Secondly, the idea behind the interior design of the hotel lobby is based on a combination of different expressive forms: stylistic features that are typical of the history and culture of local crafts are placed in relation to contemporary elements to generate an attractive spatial equilibrium, while the mix of oriental elements, such as green bamboo walls, all handmade, using real bamboo to copy the shape on ceramic glaze panel, is elegantly balanced with contemporary furniture and the addition of art pieces, where ceramic sculptures placed in the wooden niches appear as museum pieces, adding a special touch.
The hotel rooms are furnished with a combination of contemporary design elements, custom made pieces and some modern reinterpretations of traditional Asian furniture, and each room benefits from ample city views, while the use of semi-transparent partitions preserves the sense of space and light that is enhanced by luminescent elements, such as backlit walls and glazed screens for the bathrooms.
In addition, the bed headboard and the living area bench system become part of the architectural arrangement – the former attached to the walk-in closet wall, the latter spanning wall to wall in the window area; oriental-style nightstands and contemporary table lamps provide a warm accent, while examples of Chinese art add a local touch.
On the other hand, the Middle House Residences are characterized by comfortable and welcoming rooms divided into different areas by semi-transparent partitions, creating the effect of a large open space: finely carved sliding wood panels, featuring typical Chinese texture design, form a gentle barrier between the bedroom and the living area, while the dominant colors are warm white used for the walls, and dark brown chosen for the brushed bamboo parquet and the ceramic floor of the bathroom; finally, contemporary furnishings are mixed with items from the local tradition, while some accents of color appear on the furniture and the objets trouvés.
Last but not least, the Spa and Fitness Centre: in order to create a truly rewarding experience, the vast 2400 sqm wellness area, located at the basement floor, has been conceived as a unique space, which connects both Hotel and Serviced Apartments arrival points; where possible, the space has been shaped to create large perspectives with iconic architectural elements: the skylight garden, backlit organic volumes, water features and full-height ceramic louvers.
The aim of the Lissoni’s project was to create spaces studied to the last detail, dedicated to calm luxury and wellness: a goal achieved thanks to the refined use of contrasts and the combination of style, material and color, in tune with the Italian idea of elegance.
Photography is by Edmond Leong.
