Ripple Hotel — Hangzhou, China
![Hangzhou’s newest hotel has taken its design cues from the location’s aquatic setting](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VGW4rD5FemxbcHwp36fQbk-415-80.jpg)
Hangzhou, in China’s east coast Zhejiang province, is something of an insider’s secret, long prized by lovelorn romantics, photographers and naturalists for its scenic bounty.
In recent years, savvy hoteliers have been lured to the man-made Qiandao Lake for its photogenic collection of over a thousand islands and water-sports. For the 27-room Ripple Hotel, Shanghai-based firm X+Living has taken its design cues from the aquatic setting, filling the minimalist white-washed spaces with furniture shaped like fantastical boats that seem to float in mid-air, and oversized, elliptically shaped sofas that that recall ripples in the water.
Giant oars and bundles of reeds become art installations and dropped ceilings are sheathed in a geometrically precise basket-weave, while pendant and floor lamps are encased in stylised bamboo fishing cages. In the restaurant where locally sourced, organic ingredients are de rigueur, twigs are embedded into tables. The effect is a whimsical fantasy of a lakeside forest.
Address
No.18 Jixian Road, Hangzhou City
PHOTOGRAPHY
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Yijie Hu
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotel
Palazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico
By Chadner Navarro Published
-
West Kowloon wonders to discover now
Cultural and culinary adventures, extraordinary spaces and outstanding experiences in West Kowloon, Hong Kong
By Simon Mills Last updated
-
Ramshackle farmhouse in China's Hubei province gets a slick makeover
The reimagined farmhouse is now a contemporary bolthole
By Lauren Ho Last updated
-
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland
By Daven Wu Last updated
-
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia
By Dimity Noble Last updated
-
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
By Jennifer Choo Last updated
-
Beast x Gubi House — Shanghai, China
By Cat Nelson Last updated