For decades, visitors to Taiwan have considered the aptly named Grand Hotel on Chung-shan North Road as the piece de resistance of hotel elegance in Taiwan. Built in Ching dynasty imperial style and reminiscent of the Forbidden City in the time of the Empress Dowager, the hotel has long served as the official abode for government-invited VIPs and well-heeled tourists, and as the venue for the most lavish of local Chinese receptions, banquets, and weddings. But while the magnificent lobby of the Grand Hotel, like the National Palace Museum, has become a regular stop on the tourist circuit, the recent opening of three international hotels in Taiwan has redefined the aesthetics of grandness.
All three five-star hotels- the Sherwood Taipei, the Grand Hyatt Taipei, and the Regent Taipei-would be welcomed by the tourist industry of any international city. Each hotel would fit just as comfortably in San Francisco or New York as it would in London, Paris, or Rome.
Unobtrusive elegance - Biedermeier chairs in the Presidential Suite are counterpointed by Western and Chinese objets d'art.
A closer look at each hotel reveals unique subtleties. Not only do the hotels fulfill the expectations of international travelers used to the best in accommodations, they also offer skillfully crafted interiors that combine the aesthetic sensitivities of both East and West. Thus, the three hotels are genuinely five-star, and they are also harbingers of Taipei's emerging image as an international city. A visit to each hotel illustrates how Chinese art can be effectively combined with the latest in modern hotel design.
The interior design and furnishings of the Sherwood Taipei are an especially graceful mix of Western and Asian motifs. Immediately inside the main entrance is one of the best examples, the hotel's splendid mid-eighteenth century tapestry, “Verdure Exotique,” woven by the Royal Manufacture of Aubusson (France) and now hanging on the lobby wall. The work is an elegant depiction of an oriental landscape, with birds and rich foliage surrounding a pagoda built on a rocky headland, and a Chinese junk floating nearby on a quiet waterway.
Surprisingly, the setting for the tapestry is the only note of aesthetic dissonance in the hotel: it is largely hidden behind a massive flower arrangement. Not only is the whole center of the work impossible to see, the colorful flowers overpower the subdued colors of the tapestry. Moreover, petals and leaves from the arrangement actually touch the surface of the tapestry, guaranteeing a rapid deterioration from its currently fine condition.
Below, a horse in the style of the Tang dynasty and a vase reminiscent of the Sung period fit effortlessly into a suite sitting room.
From this point onward, however, the Sherwood is an aesthetic pleasure, from floor to ceiling and everyplace in between. After the Sherwood's basic structural work was completed, Japanese workmen were brought to Taipei to complete the interiors. The fine workmanship sets new standards of excellence for Taiwan. For example, a close examination of the geometrically patterned floors of Italian marble in the lobby and in the entrance-level restaurant reveals astonishingly precise craftsmanship. No angle is skewed, no edging is out of line. This attention to detail is visible every where, from the decorative molding on the ceilings to the marble sinks and fixtures in the guest rooms.
The test of an interior design is its degree of success in shaping space. Is each room, be it the lobby lounge or the sitting room of an executive suite, comfortable to the eye, to the body, to the spirit? The owner of the Sherwood, B. V. Riu wanted a “grand hotel,” but one designed on a more intimate scale. The result is what hoteliers call a “boutique hotel,” in this case a 350-room hotel with maximum seating capacities of 100 in each of its four restaurants.
Symbolic piece Le petit patissier, by Deschamps, shows a pastry chef at work cleaning pots, with a Chinese teapot and cup near at hand.
Big decisions determine the small ones. The boutique hotel concept stresses intimacy, and the challenge was met with aplomb by Intradesign, a Los Angeles-based consortium of designers, and Cynthia Bogie, the Sherwood's project designer. The designers integrated Western and Asian furnishings in as many public and private spaces as possible. Moreover, they lightened the classic European flavor of the hotel with a clean lined “California influence,” using paler woods, muted color schemes, and lush plants.
The primary tone throughout the hotel is still European, however, accented by the extensive use of marble, chandeliers, and antique furnishings. For example, authentic Biedermeier furniture grace the presidential suite and public areas, while Biedermeier reproductions serve as decorative yet functional pieces in the hotel's guest rooms. The chairs and couches match proportion and simplicity with practicality: they are comfortable to both the eye and the body. The furniture was intended to invite rather than impress, but it does both.
The integration of Asian art into an essentially European hotel is nearly flaw less. The process is made simpler by the collection of European antiques that themselves incorporate Asian motifs. Eighteenth-century Europe, after all, had a love affair with China. Voltaire, for instance, wrote glowingly of Chinese society in his historical works, and depictions of an idealized China made their way into European art, tapestries, table ware, and furniture.
A lobby bigger than all outdoors-the Grand Hyatt Taipei emphasizes the "large and impressive" aspects of grandness, while maintaining a sense of intimacy in the hotel's lounges and restaurants.
Some of these pieces now grace the walls and hallways of the Sherwood, including a lively eighteenth century painting by Deschamps of a pastry cook polishing a large brass cooking pot. A friendly cat is brushing against his leg, and nearby on the floor are pots, pans and a Chinese teapot. “This painting symbolizes the Sherwood,” says Lucille Fisher of the hotel's public relations office. “Just like the composition of this painting, our hotel integrates Western and Asian motifs. It may seem effortless, but it took a lot of work.”
The 900-room Grand Hyatt Taipei emphasizes the “large and impressive” aspects of grandness. A t least this is the first impression when visitors first step into its spacious lobby. In fact, the lobby is a striking contradiction. When guests walk through the entrance, it seems as though they are going into a larger space. Such is the impact of the vast marble floors and the massive sandstone colored columns that support the circling balconies and a soaring atrium roof. The lobby seems larger than the outdoors.
Metropolitan Taipei is crowded - on the streets, on the sidewalks, and in its offices and living spaces. It is therefore a delightful relief to enter the uncluttered, open spaces of the main lobby. Instead of seeming overwhelmingly large, it is a welcome reprieve. Eyes feast on the open spaces and the huge floral displays that are a Hyatt signature, while ears are comforted by the sound of water from lobby fountains.
The classical, turn-of-the-century European sleekness and grandeur of the interior design, handled by the Hong Kong firm of Hirsch Bedner & Associates, at first seem to give the Hyatt a distinctly Western tone. But it is actually counterpointed by Asian fugues, especially in the art displayed in the hotel's more intimate spaces, its restaurants, lounges, and guest room hallways. According to John Chen, the senior project designer for the hotel, “While Taipei is becoming more international, it is still Chinese-which is why we didn't go with an all-Western look. On the other hand, a purely Chinese design has been done before. By combining influences, we benefited from the best of both worlds."
The world of China is prominently indicated in the main lobby and off-lobby sitting rooms by a series of five large works of Chinese calligraphy by Ting Ching-chuen, a contemporary Taiwan artist. But some of the best integration of Chinese art with modern Western elegance is found in the hotel's two Chinese restaurants.
As in the Sherwood, the art reflects the long period of historical contact between East and West. Appropriately, the art displays in the restaurants reflect the international past of Shanghai and Canton. In the Shanghai Court restaurant, for example, the walls are hung with framed collections of items commonly used by the period's richer families, both Chinese and Western. One framed set includes a delicately painted Chinese fan arched above two ornately decorated dishes, a pair of cloisonné chopsticks, and two brass pins. Another has an asymmetrical arrangement of an ivory fan, snuff box, necklace, baby spoon, and watch.Many of these were trade items, and were just as commonly found in London or Lisbon as they were in Shanghai or Hong Kong. The art is a subtle reminder that East has been meeting West for generations, and both regions have gained from the contacts.
The products of contemporary contacts are also evident in the Hyatt's art collection. Many of the artists represented are overseas Chinese who have combined traditional brush and composition skills with Western themes and techniques. Are such works Chinese or Western? Are they neither, or both? In fact, the artists are not bound by anyone tradition, but incorporate many. They are truly international-and this sense of artistic style helps set the overall tone of the Grand Hyatt.
The interior design of the 570-room Regent Taipei was done by Hong Kong-based Chhada Siembieda and Associates. The design team's goal was to place traditional forms in an ultra-modern architectural setting. The emphasis is on simplicity of visual lines, evident from the streamlined effect of the long and low second-floor entrance lobby. The space, which flows into a living room style lounge and parts ways around the central bank of elevators to form a large cocktail lounge, draws guests into the heart of the hotel.
“We have two different styles of art in our collection,” says Roger Pan, president of the hotel. “The guest rooms are decorated with Western prints, and the public spaces have Chinese art. About a third of our Chinese pieces are antiques.”
Two of the most impressive of the traditional Chinese works hang in the lobby: a calligraphy message dedicated to Emperor Chienlung (1736-1796), and a Ching dynasty landscape in dark green and blue ink. These are two of nearly twenty antiques from Pan's own collection.
Pan also built up the hotel's collection by commissioning works by contemporary Chinese artists. He took a unique approach. “I invited fifteen well known local artists on a one-week trip to Yosemite National Park in California,” he says. “I took care of everything in exchange for one of their best works.” One of the artists, Weibor Chu, a woodblock printer, did a complete series for the hotel.
Much of the Regent's art has a family-style flavor to it, one that matches the atmosphere set by the large second-floor lounge that overlooks a first-floor court surrounded by shops, two restaurants, and a performance area. A musical trio serves the function of a good stereo system at home-it is primarily background music to the conversations in the lounge and in the court side restaurant.
The Regent's public spaces are appointed with antique furniture, subdued calligraphic scrolls, Chinese pots with graceful curves, and traditional hsieh-Ian, the carefully crafted gift boxes that were used to present wedding presents and other important items to family, friends, or superiors. The Regent, according to Sharon Hsu of the hotel's public relations office, stresses “a quiet informality, a cleanness and smartness of line,” and the art fits unobtrusively into the over all plan. The interior design of the Regent, like the Sherwood and the Grand Hyatt, demonstrates that Chinese art can be gracefully integrated into the most modern of international hotels. ■