Cheng Chung Design used soft-colored materials for the interiors of Dongfengyun Hotel Mi’Le, which forms part of a huge art installation in rural China.
The hotel is located within Dongfengyun Art Town, a new village in Yunnan Province designed entirely by local artist Luo Xu. Set over two square miles, it consists of a series of curved structures built of locally milled red brick.
Dongfengyun Hotel Mi’Le is operated by boutique hotel brand Mgallery and features 232 rooms, two restaurants, two bars, an outdoor pool and meeting facilities.
The interiors created by Hong Kong-based Cheng Chung Design (CCD) celebrate the distinctive forms of architecture, combining natural materials with a muted color palette and soft lighting.
“We have not adopted the expressions of industrial or modern design,” the studio said.
“Instead, the team drew inspiration from the local cultural context and made use of pidgin languages to integrate space into nature.”
CCD supervises all the interiors at Dongfengyun and has already completed 50% Cloud Artists Lounge, a restaurant serving as an art gallery.
For the hotel, lighting and ambiance were the main ambitions of the design. This begins in the entrance space, which is a large bowl-shaped volume with a skylight above it and a swimming pool in the middle.
“With natural daylight flowing in, dynamic light and shadows move freely in space,” CCD said.
“The changing rhythms of light and shadows, along with surprising sensory experiences and subtle detailing, create a sense of ritual to welcome guests.”
Throughout the hotel, CCD has combined modest materials with luxurious fittings and finishes, hoping to strike the right balance for guests.
This can be seen in restaurants and lobby spaces, where materials such as polished earth and terracotta tiles are paired with polished stone floors and fine furniture.
The bedrooms and suites are organized around a large patio accessed by outdoor corridors with stunning arched windows.
Inside, these rooms are dotted with locally sourced ceramics and other items.
“Every detail retains a trace of local handicrafts and secretly tells its own story,” CCD said.
“With warm ambiance and original simplicity fused into the space, the design fully embodies the hotel’s aesthetic philosophy, ‘Art dialogues with everything, inspiration captures life’.”
Photography by Wang Ting.
Project credits:
Client: Yunnan to invest in urban and rural construction
Architectural Design: Luo Shu
landscape design: Yunnan Zilian Landscaping and Greening Engineering
interior design: zheng zhong design
lighting design: zheng zhong design
Technical Consulting: WOWU Art Consultancy