Reworking A Sense Of Place

Designer Mr. Piero Lissoni spent months collaborating with local Chinese artisans to pull off artful details at the Middle House in Shanghai

The first thing guests encounter at The Middle House, the latest entry in Swire’s House Collective, is an oversized Venetian chandelier hanging against walls of green bamboo ceramic tile laid vertically to emphasize the double-height space. Behind the entry the ceiling dips to a more intimate, single-story height. Here a cozy scene unfolds with Chinese benches, a fireplace, modern wing chairs, bone-colored upholstery, and silk area rugs that contrast with the dark wood bookshelves, consoles, and side tables. In the corner, a sculptural staircase flanked by handmade bricks leads up to the hotel rooms.

With his characteristic muted hues and streamlined silhouettes, Italian architect and designer Mr. Piero Lissoni has conceived a modern space that artfully and authentically combines local Shanghainese design elements. It is a refreshing achievement, particularly at a time when design is global in its reach, broad in its appeal, and a hotel suite can look the same whether you’re in Bangkok, London or Dubai.

Contemporary Design Language

Mr. Lissoni is well known for referencing local traditions and reinterpreting them through a contemporary design language. He has added his restrained Milanese touch to projects from the Ritz

Carlton in Miami Beach to the Oberoi Resort in Ajman, always with an uncanny ability to make even the glossiest new buildings feel authentic.

But to achieve this at The Middle House, the designer’s first project in Mainland China, required a fair amount of legwork. “We spent one whole year traveling to different factories in China and visiting local artisans who use traditional techniques,” Mr. Lissoni says.

To create the classical tile work, Mr. Lissoni collaborated with Chinese craftsmen, many of them in their eighties, who come from a long lineage of artisans. To source historically accurate ceramics and terracotta, his team spent months creating prototypes and mulling over samples.

In Shanghai, Mr. Lissoni was initially frustrated by the quality of construction. But once he started communicating directly with the workers, things changed. “Once I worked with the locals, it became like another world,” he says.

Understated Monochromes

Located in Dazhongli, where some of the city’s last remaining historic shikumen, or lanehouses, meet the much taller skyscrapers of the Jing’an financial district, The Middle House forms part of the RMB17 billion mixed-use HKRI Taikoo Hui development.

The hotel component comprises 111 hotel rooms and 102 serviced apartments, which are spread across two 14-story towers clad in a striated façade of rounded aluminum louvres.

Mr. Lissoni handsomely appointed the hotel rooms using understated monochromatic tones. There are slender pendant lights, hand-made ceramic tiles, silk panels and low-slung furniture that highlights the dark hardwood floors. Some rooms feature bronze mesh screens and carpets that were handmade by cutting and reassembling antique Middle Eastern fibers. Windows reveal views of Shanghai’s hyper-urban landscape.

There are three restaurants onsite, all designed by Mr. Lissoni, including Café Gray Delux (Mr. Gray Kunz continues his longtime collaboration with the House brand). Here, Mr. Lissoni worked closely with artists to develop teapots and water vessels that convey “a sense of joy and sensuality” and complement the black terracotta background of the walls. There is also a Cantonese restaurant, Sui Tang Li, and the Italian restaurant Frasca, which features a neutral scheme of taupe and gray and an adjoining outdoor terrace.

The curvilinear Mi Xun Spa and wellness area is another highlight. The largely minimalist space features backlit volumes, water features, an internal garden and a series of vertical louvers created from a blend of industrial materials and local ceramics. In addition to the heated pool, there’s a yoga studio, gym, juice bar and a HYPOXIroom.

Guided by Recyclability

The delightful sense of materiality is a large part of the property’s success, but rather than be seduced by a material’s aesthetic qualities, Mr. Lissoni says his choices are largely guided by recyclability. “We try to be responsible, to minimize the use of materials. You have to think about it: Is (the building) going to be ready to be recycled, transformed, destroyed in a couple of years?”

Historically, this was the approach architects took, says Mr. Lissoni. “We stopped to do that because architects started to think: “Okay, now I build a new icon and the icon becomes like the new Coliseum.” If there’s one thing the Chinese and the Italians are certain to share – in addition to a strong food culture – it’s a long view of history, and the realization that even buildings are not static, and do not, in fact, last forever.

Although the hotel project was extensive and tedious at times, Mr. Lissoni says the experience was also really fantastic. “We built and we finished, and I think it’s one of my best projects.” To celebrate the hotel’s completion, he gathered all of the workers in the frigid inner courtyard. “I brought 1,000 beers and it was minimum five degrees below zero,” he recalls, “so we didn’t need ice for the beer.” P