Photography courtesy Bilkey Llinas Design
Yan Club at Kunlun Hotel in Beijing is one of those projects that every designer dreams about. Chinese author-turned-hotelier Hai Yan gave Hong Kong- and West Palm Beach-based design firm Bilkey Llinas complete freedom with a nightclub after they completed renovations of the adjacent 5-Star Kunlun Hotel.
“Kunlun was one of Beijing’s first 5-Star hotels,” notes Robert Bilkey, founder of Bilkey Llinas. “Yan Club is set in the back gardens of the hotel.”
Kunlun is the flagship property of Shanghai-based Jin Jiang International Hotel Management Corporation. Although the group has a number of 5-Star properties throughout mainland China, it is better known for its budget accommodation Jinjiang Inn, which is dominating the domestic travel market.
“We built the club to take advantage of being in the middle of a forest,” says Bilkey. “It is sprawling, with lots of little wings and its own garden. The theme was a garden on steroids!”
The entrance is a double-story atrium featuring a floating glass staircase, immediately setting the stage for a Vegas-like fantasyland of glamour. One wall depicts an abstract bamboo forest with untreated wood planks and light troughs randomly washing over its surface. A perpendicular wall consists of flowering trees inspired by traditional ink paintings.
“Passageways are finished with rough wood and inlaid lighting,” says Bilkey. This play on rough and refined textures can be seen in the stone used throughout the club; the material also references Hai Yan’s name, which is the same character for stone. With more than 20 intimate VIP rooms and lounge areas, the club indulges the Chinese patron’s preference for entertaining in privacy. Large panes of floor-to-ceiling or French doors lead to garden terraces, with many of them extensions of the rooms themselves.
One of the most striking features of Yan Club is its bar. “It’s a huge tree stump that appears to be cast in gold,” Bilkey explains. Overhead are suspended tendrils of fiber optic light crystals that fall like a gentle shower. Traditional elements like a Xian terracotta warrior sculpture are interspersed among embossed leather armchairs and richly textural upholstery for thorough integration of Chinese and Western design elements.
“Yan Club has been very successful since it opened in November last year,” Bilkey says. “People in Beijing are always looking for something new.”
Yan Club at Beijing Kunlun Hotel
Beijing, China
Owner and Management Company Beijing Kunlun Hotel
Interior Design Firm and Lighting Bilkey Llinas Design, Hong Kong
Interior Design Project Team Robert Bilkey and Oscar Llinas
Contractor and Purchasing Firm Elegance Interiors
