Intercontinental Hotel

The Sanlitun Village in Beijing is a fabulous example of innovative urban design, and in 2010 became a central part of the regeneration of Chaoyang District. The Sanlitun Intercontinental Hotel is located directly south of the Village and occupies a 45-metre-wide by 260-metre-long site on Sanlitun Nan Lu, adjacent to the Kengo Kuma designed Sanlitun SOHO.

Completed in 2016, the 150m high tower contains a 300-room, five-star hotel and fifty residential apartments. The design responds to complex municipal planning conditions and a design brief that called for a unique landmark tower able to contribute to the new ‘urban dialogue’ Beijing is now well known for. The design solution was a point tower at the northern end of a five-level retail podium with a generous public realm extending to the site perimeter.

In plan, the tower form responds to boundary setback requirements, a complex ground level programme and limited opportunities to bring high volumes of people into the building at grade. The sinuous plan extrudes and slopes through the height of the tower providing exceptional 270-degree views from the end rooms, in contrast to the more regular room configurations through the centre of the floor plate. The external envelope employs a traditional curtain wall with a hexagonal grid overlay. The original design proposal saw the honeycomb grid perform a sun shading role however this was reduced in depth as the design developed.