Swire Hotels to open Luxury New Hotel in Beijing - The Opposite House

Celebrated avant-garde architect Kengo Kuma from Japan and creative Shanghai-based designers Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu are using their considerable talents to challenge the norm in one of Beijing’s latest luxury hotels - The Opposite House - the first of a series of unique hotel properties from newly formed Swire Hotels.

Kuma, who is famed for some of the most innovative retail and commercial spaces in Japan, including the LVMH group headquarters and the Suntory Museum in Tokyo, set out to create a “spatial experience” of light and space that completely transforms the look of the luxurious contemporary hotel from morning to night.

The hotel’s exterior, a striking emerald glass, is in keeping with the stunning glass exteriors of The Village at Sanlitun, one of Beijing’s premier open-plan shopping and entertainment destinations, of which The Opposite House is an integral part. 

Among the hotel’s many striking features, a stainless-steel-clad swimming pool is designed to dramatically reflect both natural light and exciting fibre optic lighting. Guest rooms meanwhile are strikingly open and simple with natural brushed oak floors, furniture and even bathtubs, with subtle touches of Chinese décor to evoke a sense of place in Beijing.

Swire Hotels has been created to manage small luxury hotels in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United Kingdom, providing a luxury experience for travellers who seek individuality, style and personalised service.

The Opposite House in Beijing opens in July 2008 and will be followed by the opening of a 117-room luxury hotel in Pacific Place, Hong Kong, in the summer of 2009 and a 100-room hotel at Taikoo Hui in Guangzhou in 2010. Swire Hotels will also manage a 343-room lifestyle business hotel called  EAST, to be opened at Island East, Hong Kong, in 2009.

In the United Kingdom, Swire Hotels is developing a collection of luxury boutique hotels in regional English towns and cities to be launched in 2009.

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