If you’re curious and fit enough to make it to the top of the Guangzhou International Finance Center in China, you’ll stumble upon the newly finished, luxurious 33-floor Four Seasons Hotel. It marks the final completion of the 440 m high building, a stalwart skyscraper penned down by Wilkinson Eyre Architects together with the engineers at Arup.
The building sums up at 103 storeys, and, due to its location, above the Pearl River, it provides staggeringly breathtaking panoramas. The hotel occupies just the top third of the IFC, which makes this situation even better. It is designed around a full-height atrium, which also provides views utterly stunning to enjoy even inside the building. Would it do any better if we mentioned the atrium itself is way taller than New York’s Statue of Liberty and London’s St. Paul Cathedral? Oh yes it would.
Furthermore, the hotel comprises a total of 344 luxurious guest rooms and suites, some of the largest, most elegant and most modern throughout Guangzhou. They were penned down by the acclaimed interior designer brand Hirsch Bedner Associates, alongside Wilkinson Eyre’s own design team.
The pinnacles of some of the interior spaces, like the guest rooms, bars and the elegant restaurants, are the ceiling-high windows, which allow both an ample flooding of natural light and superb views. Even the atrium balconies were gorgeously sculpted in order to remind of the overall “diagrid” structural shape of the building, when viewed from the atrium.
In order to reach the hotel, guests are provided with dedicated express lifts which carry them from the ground floor lobby directly to the 70th Floor sky lobby. Here, they’re greeted by both the stunning atrium views and the panoramas over the Pearl River. If these weren’t enough, guests’ heads are being illuminated by a dramatic natural roof light, originating from 120 meters above.
In terms of views, the best ones can be enjoyed from the restaurant located at the 100th floor as well as from the bar at the 99th floor, alongside the Executive Club lounge with its staircase, cantilevered over the atrium, connecting the two aforementioned storeys. The designers have artistically placed a carefully picked collection of sculptures, prints and paintings throughout the luxurious hotel, originating from international contemporary artists. They highlight the strong sense of modernism which guests can feel upon arrival.
And it’s not all about elegance and panoramas, it’s also about relaxation, having a great time and, most importantly, chilling out. The hotel provides a fully endowed spa, an infinity pool with breathtaking views of the city, fitness centres, an Italian café and dining areas, where guests are able to enjoy seafood, Cantonese, Japanese and all sorts of international dishes. There are also spaces for social occasions, conferences, weddings or other sorts of events, in the shape of three 3,500 sq meter formal ballrooms.
All in all, the luxury Four Seasons Hotel in Guangzhou is exactly one of those places where you completely forget about bills or paychecks. Awesome!
[adelto]
