Sunrise Kempinski Hotel | Shanghai Huadu Architect Design Co

China's string of amazing hotel openings continues next month with the completion of the Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, Beijing. Due to open in mid-November, the eye-catching 97-meter-high luxury hotel has 21 floors filled with 306 guestrooms and suites. It's designed by Shanghai Huadu Architect Design Co. and sits on the shore of Yanqi Lake, about 60 kilometers from Beijing's city center. Though "traditional" is the last word that comes to mind when looking at the orb-like structure, there are a number of classic Chinese elements at play. For one, it was designed to look like a rising sun, which designers say is symbolic of China's fast-growing economy. The entrance to the Sunrise Kempinski is shaped like the mouth of a fish, symbolizing prosperity. From a side angle, the hotel takes on the appearance of a scallop, which represents fortune in Chinese culture. Spanning 18,075 square meters, the exterior glass surface is covered by more than 10,000 glass panels. The panels are angled so that the top portion of the building reflects the color of the sky, the middle reflects nearby Yan Mountain and the bottom section reflects the lake. At night, the hotel is lit up by hydroelectric-powered LED lights." We had an international team (of designers) because we needed a critical view from people outside of China to give their opinion on modern contemporary Chinese architectural design and to enable us to broaden our ideas on how we can use our design to showcase the Chinese culture to the world," said chief designer Zhang Hai Ao in a statement.

The whole destination is set on 14-square-kilometre grounds with a 306-room Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, Beijing (on the lakeshore), a 111-room Yanqi Hotel and 12 Boutique Hotels with 178 rooms (on Yanqi Island). On Yanqi Island, we also have our 8,277-square-metre Beijing Yanqi Lake International Conference Centre and a Yanqi Pagoda (viewing gallery) - Collectively, this new destination is known as Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, Beijing & Yanqi Island. Within this new destination, there are our 14 restaurants and bars, private island, private marina, Yanqi Pagoda, two Kempinski The Spa, recreational and fitness facilities and Kempinski Kids Club.

We are positioned as Beijing's new destination for MICE and for leisure, and our facilities are designed to host international conferences and global summits (APEC China 2014 final meeting on 11 November 2014).

Our opening is scheduled for 17 November 2014. As we are the official host venue for APEC China 2014, due to security reasons, we will only open to the public six days after APEC China 2014, and then, operate as usual as a hotel/destination.