First impressions are everything—a familiar sentiment for Singapore-based Kerry Hill Architects (KHA), which the Taiwan Shining Group commissioned to design Taiwan’s Lalu Sun Moon Lake hotel in 1998. More than ten years later, the company’s chairman Cheng-Yi Lai invited KHA back to conceive Lalu Hotels & Resorts’ second offering—and first abroad—in China. The Lalu Qingdao sits across the water from its namesake city on a peninsula along the Yellow Sea—a coastal setting that sparked the property’s Zen-inspired aesthetic.
“For this unusually rugged and exposed coastal site, we came up with a novel concept inspired by the port of Qingdao’s maritime location,” KHA founder Kerry Hill says of the hotel, whose buildings together span approximately 1,560,700 square feet.
“The hotel’s main body now resembles a group of stacked shipping containers, which rest on a robust granite base with a series of layered stone terraces,” adds Hill. With a weathered appearance, the dark red façade incorporates a blend of stone and oxidized copper mesh panels, which will gradually age to a green patina, that merge the site with its rocky outcrop. At the end of the peninsula is a stone chapel and events pavilion that Hill describes as “reminiscent of a ship’s bow cutting through the ocean.”
The property’s minimalist architecture centers on a Japanese courtyard at the arrival level—with all guestrooms located in two main wings above—which adjoins a series of public spaces leading to a peninsular villa development. Here, geometrically shaped Sea Villas with lush rooftop plantings are offered in one-, two-, and three-bedroom configurations, and include access to a private 50-foot-long pool. The 5,381-square-foot, three-bedroom Cliff Villa also offers private beach access.
Each of the hotel’s 161 guestrooms feature 180-degree sea views, visible from the bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, and balconies. Black walnut walls add to the luxe-minimalist atmosphere, complete with simple and contemporary furnishings.
Clean interiors in the main hotel building create an open atmosphere with walnut timber ceilings in public spaces, copper and bronze accents, light-colored stone finishes, steel, glass, wood, and granite elements. Guests enter upon a serenely stark lobby, which features the modern L Bar lounge, as well as a check-in desk with abstract art and African teakwood seating. This vestibule joins with corridors lined in lacquer wares, calligraphy, and paintings, along with beige granite stairs that link to hotel amenities, such as an infinity pool punctuated by two statues, several F&B outlets, and the beach. Other amenities include a spa and Lalu Galleria—a dramatic retail area featuring spherical pendant lights that span multiple levels.
Lalu Qingdao culinary concepts comprise Encounter 11, an all-day dining restaurant with sofa-style seating; Soalian, a low-key eatery with slender pendant lights and an aquarium-like installation; Rende-vouz, a wood-clad French restaurant with glass-enclosed wine storage and sleek light fixtures; Waraku, a Japanese outlet that mingles wood, steel, and water elements; and Lalu Teahouse, a venue dedicated to hosting tea ceremonies amidst a series of dimly lit lanterns and wood lattice screens.
Throughout these F&B outlets, a prolific use of wood and natural materials creates continuity and anchors the spaces to the hotel and its seaside location, where “the surrounding beaches, granite formations and many ponds were integral to the site’s narrative,” explains Hill. “Architecture and interiors, site planning, landscaping—it all come together as a whole, resulting in a very contemporary architectural statement.”
