A lounge area in Eaton HK features vibrant color-blocking moments
Located in Hong Kong’s Kowloon area, the 465-key Eaton HK is the second entry for Eaton Workshop, the activist hotel company founded by Katherine Lo, the daughter of Lo Ka Shui, the executive director of Great Eagle Holdings (which is the parent company of luxury brand Langham Hospitality). Joining its sister property in Washington, DC, Eaton HK reflects its neighborhood, while simultaneously channeling director Wong Kar-wai’s dreamy and colorful film sets.
Global firm AvroKO was “tasked with delivering a design for Millennials and their creative predecessors who yearn for a spiritual home,” says William Harris, one of the firm’s four principals, along with Kristina O’Neal, Adam Farmerie, and Greg Bradshaw. “Our goal was to make Eaton HK authentic. To drive that, we funneled the unadulterated spirit of the surrounding neighborhood into the property through the use of local materials and color palettes.”
Eight cooking stations are spread across the Astor.
Red powdercoated steel is installed throughout the entryway as a nod to bamboo scaffolding.
The firm stripped back the design of the 1970s-era former hotel to its bones “and left much of the structure exposed in certain areas,” says Bradshaw. To contrast the raw, industrial feel, ceramic tiles create vibrant color-blocking moments with red powdercoated steel details recalling the local architecture. Clad in linen and steel, the oversized atrium chandelier is another nod to the area’s design vernacular, taking cues from the local bamboo scaffolding.
Also found in the atrium is the Astor, a throwback to Hong Kong’s cha chaan teng culture that offers eight living cook stations. A foodhall is located a floor above the lobby, while even further underground is the Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Yat Tung Heen. Like the rest of the hotel, the restaurant’s silhouette is also inspired by Wong Kar-Wai, including the stained glass panels on the doors the 1920s Shanghai-style ceiling lamps.
The Michelin-starred Yat Tung Heen boasts stained glass panels and 1920s Shanghai-style lamps.
Corkboard headboards and patterned carpeting anchor each guestroom.
“We created a series of experiences, most of which are visually connected by a massive open atrium—an ecosystem of immersive, dynamic, and unified items,” says Farmerie. Coworking spaces are adjacent to a theater, which is used for lectures and screenings, while lounge spaces create a cozy, lived-in feel.
Guestrooms are fun and quirky, from the bathroom’s playful patterned tile that references Hong Kong’s tiled skyscrapers to the headboard wall, covered in corkboard and featuring local artwork. “The most impactful change was adding the geometric patterned carpeting,” says O’Neal. “The colors and design present a nice tension between the past and the future.”
Ceramic tiles clad the Spanish bar concept Flower Years.
A rooftop pool crowns the hotel
Photography courtesy of AvroKO and Eaton
