IFC Guangzhou
Text description provided by the architects. International hotelier Four Seasons has opened a 33-floor luxury hotel (5 star plus rating) at the top of the Guangzhou International Finance Center (Guangzhou IFC) in China, marking the final completion of the award winning 440m skyscraper designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects with engineers, Arup.
Interior designer Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) worked with the full potential of Wilkinson Eyre’s design. The building’s floor to ceiling windows make for light-filled spaces and create extraordinary panoramic views for the hotel’s stylish restaurants, bars and guest rooms. The atrium balconies have been sculpted by Wilkinson Eyre so that when viewed from the atrium they recall the building’s diamond shaped steel “diagrid” structure. This is accented at night by futuristic lighting design which artistically illuminates the handrails throughout the atrium.
Throughout the hotel, a carefully curated collection of paintings, prints and sculptures by contemporary international artists enhance HBA’s sleek modern interiors and Wilkinson Eyre’s dramatic architecture. The hotel offers a fully equipped spa, fitness centre and an infinity pool with spectacular views of the city below. Guests can admire the view from the 100th floor restaurant and from a range of dining venues, including Japanese, Cantonese and seafood restaurants as well as an Italian café. Three formal ballrooms give over 3,500 sq meters of event space for weddings, social occasions and conferences.
The building utilises the world’s tallest constructed diagrid structure which is clearly expressed through the building’s façade and gives the building considerable character. The diagrid members are formed from concrete filled steel tubes which provide both good stiffness and fire protection to the structure. The tubular diagrid structure “nodes-out” every 12 storeys to form 54m high giant steel diamonds. At the base of the tower the structural members are 1800mm in diameter and reduce in size up the building to 900mm at the top of the building.
