Offering travelers respite from Shenzhen, China’s bustling commercial district, MeeHotel envelops guests in a tranquil, bamboo-filled setting—a key element that nods to the location’s Bamboo Forest moniker. To that end, Hong Kong-based studio Panorama Design Group maximized the urban resort’s 66,730-square-foot footprint with an ingenious reinterpretation of traditional design elements.
“MeeHotel invites guests to enjoy its amity by natural submersion,” says Panorama design director Horace Pan. “Entering this hotel, one is immediately attracted to the scenic surroundings.”
Indeed, the designers’ use of bamboo—wrapping pitched ceilings and as floor-to-ceiling screens—creates an immersive experience. To further the effect, the material of choice is accented by intimate lighting and natural materials including stone and diatom mud-finished walls. The ceilings weave a sense of movement and tranquility throughout the public spaces, but it’s the internal courtyards between guestroom floors that allow the concept to truly come alive.
LED lights that recall the moonlight suspend from the Sky Café’s dramatic bamboo-wrapped cathedral ceiling
Punctuated by a bamboo installation that resembles birds in flight—soaring and plunging through the space to produce a playful interpretation of light and shadow on the floor—“the bamboo extends its wings to penetrate into the guestrooms,” Pan says. In fact, in each room, bamboo and rattan headboards echo patterns found in the lobby (done in different lengths and thickness) and complement the overall neutral palette.
Perched atop the hotel, the Sky Café—again swathed in bamboo—features a cathedral ceiling that seemingly wraps guests in a warm embrace. “The existing building was partially torn down, and we reused the remaining structural elements to construct [the] building, which provides a total wonderment experience to the sky,” Pan says. To complete its transformation, abundant daylight is filtered through the skylight above, while suspended LED rings stand in for moonlight after dark.
The abundance of bamboo throughout the property nods to the location’s Bamboo Forest moniker
“This hotel provides a relaxing and comfortable journey in a more meaningful way, allowing business travelers to appreciate the beauty of traditional handicraft that should not be ignored,” he adds. “It ultimately forms aesthetic, functional, and cultural enhancement in our busy urban life.”
Pitched bamboo ceilings and intimate lighting punctuate the arrival experience
Bamboo and rattan headboards echo patterns seen in the lobby
This article originally appeared in HD’s June 2020 issue.
