The average mainland Chinese consumer belongs to a practical demographic that opts, where possible, for multi-functional venues. Case in point is the Zotafo Spa in Hezhou City, a striking-looking recreational spa club which combines a Chinese dining/buffet zone, entertainment zone featuring table tennis, billiards, chess and cards, and cinema, spa, two outdoor swimming pools and, just in case you’re exhausted by all that activity, 20 guest rooms.
Guangdong-based Zheng Xiang Design has riffed off traditional black ink paintings for the interior design, scoring the spaces with familiar motifs. The foyer, for instance, features a corona of faux rocky surface, the eye led inexorably towards a trompe l’oeil backdrop of shadowy mountains lit by cloud chandeliers, while moon-doors, lined in a coppery finish, are cut into walls of white marble to evoke the courtyards found in local architecture.
The sense of locality continues to the bedrooms – some of which are capacious, their multiple bed configurations designed to comfortably sleep a mini-clan – which are dressed in soft shades of brown, dark woods, wispy curtains and frosted glass.
The spa, meanwhile, is outsized, featuring no less than 46 rooms for body and foot massages where the treatments are sourced, in the main, from the region’s Yao ethnic group.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Huangyao Town
Hezhou City
Guangxi Province
-
Glenn Sestig brings his fashion-infused design to a French Riviera flagshipThe Belgian architect is the creative force behind the modern-meets-Mediterranean design of shoe label Morobé’s new store in Saint-Tropez
-
Stay in a pastel-hued Puglian palazzo as it starts a new chapterA haven for the design-minded, Palazzo Daniele reopens following a thoughtful restoration by Milan-based Studio Palomba Serafini
-
‘As an artist, I’ve never felt more useful than now’: Steve McQueen on his monumental film screening in AmsterdamThe film director on why now felt like the right time to screen a previously unseen 34-hour version of his 2023 documentary ‘Occupied City’, on the façade of the Rijksmuseum
-
Discover a futuristic bar in Shanghai with mad-scientist energyPenicillin opens in Shanghai with a clinical steel and concrete design by LC Studio alongside trailblazing, sustainable cocktails
-
A colossal ‘ship’ in Shanghai honours Louis Vuitton’s travel legacyLouis Vuitton’s The Louis is an OMA-designed hub combining retail, culture and dining in the heart of Nanjing West Road
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing caféJM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
