The Middle House - Swire Hotel
The Middle House is the fourth House under Swire Hotels’ award-winning The House Collective, part of the mixed-use Dazhongli development in the Jing’an district. Located in the heart of Shanghai’s popular commercial district and in close proximity to the city’s fashionable Nanjing Road, The Middle House continues the company’s philosophy of intimate luxury, delivered with highly-personalized service. The hotel will offer many unique features with an abundance of outdoor spaces and terraces, providing an elegant and calm oasis amidst the dynamic backdrop of one of Asia’s most sophisticated cities.
The work of Piero Lissoni and Lissoni Casal Ribeiro 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: the Middle House Hotel with 111 rooms, restaurants, events space, swimming pools and spa, and the Middle House Residences with 102 serviced apartments comprising studios as well as one and two bedroom units.
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.
The Middle House Hotel**
The idea behind the interior design of the lobby is based on a combination of different ex¬pressive 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. 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. A question of rhythm, based on an astute use of contrasts: style, material and color. The goal is to create spaces for calm luxury and simple elegance, all studied down to the last detail.
The hotel rooms are furnished with a combination of contemporary design ele¬ments, custom made pieces and some modern reinterpretations of tradi¬tional Asian furniture. Various accessories lend a domestic feel to the space. 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. 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.
The restaurant Café Gray Deluxe, with New York-based chef Gray Kunz, will showcase Chef Gray’s unique style of international cuisine amidst Lissoni’s stylish interiors and stunning terraces.
The Middle House Residences
Superbly comfortable and welcoming rooms are 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. 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. Contemporary furnishings are mixed with items from the local tradition, while some accents of color appear on the furniture and the objets trouvés.
The Spa and Fitness Centre
In order to create a truly rewarding experience, the vast 2400sqm 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.
Team
Piero Lissoni con Tania Zaneboni, Mattia Susani, Roberto Berticelli, Rodrigo Tellez Acosta, Sara Orrù, Sara Cerboneschi, David Pouliot, Pino Caliandro, Lorenza Marenco, Giorgio Pappas
Furniture Designer: Roberto Berticelli, Rodrigo Tellez, Pino Caliandro, Marco Gottardi
Rendering: Alberto Massi Mauri, Alessandro Massi Mauri, Matteo Sponza
