4 minute read
Lighting a Dark Secret
A secret room in a hotel bar has given the Vermilion Zhou Design Group an opportunity to create mystery with light. Ray Molony reports.
‘Extreme business’. That was the Vermilion Zhou Design Group’s self-given brief for its treatment of the Intercity Hotel in Shenzhen.
Visually, it translated into various hints of ‘time’ throughout the building to confirm the sense of security for business travelers and removed the overly sensible cold tone usually encountered in corporate hotels. Instead, it embraces brown tones with wood complemented by warm lighting.
The design of the Intercity Hotel inherited German DNA from its operator, and here VZDG emphasized practical and refined functionality and a sensible interpretation of elegant German aesthetics.
However, a year after opening the hotel operator has added a space which calls for a very different treatment.
The ‘secret room’ is a concept comprising of a hidden place in the space of the Intercity’s bar.
The designers say that the unknowing things behind the door magnify the inner imagination. The surprise brings exciting emotions and a brief relaxation away from reality.
The immensity of the space, too, takes the guest out of reality immediately.
The theme is an Intercity spaceship which takes its occupants on an unexpected journey, whether it be from an actual city or into a virtual universe, sipping a sip of mellow craft beer and enjoying a temporary escape.
The heavy lifting fell to VZDG’s lighting designers.
Light, after all, is the perfect medium to deliver the expectations set up by that inner imagination.
A key was integration. Most of the luminaires have been incorporated into various interior design elements, including ceilings, floors, and walls.
This allowed the design team to create diffuse ambient lighting from various heights and angles, adding layers to the spatial atmosphere.
Control is via a DMX512 intelligent dimming RGBW system. In line with the spaceship-themed visual concept, a single LED strip produces thematic colours and dynamic effects. It can also easily be switched back to white light mode during non-operational hours. The project won a LIT Award in 2023 for the lighting concept and execution.
Vermilion Zhuo Design Group was founded by Kuang Ming (Ray) Chou and Vera Chu in 2002. Ray received an M.A degree at University Politécnica de Catalunya in Spain where he was deeply influenced by European culture. However, his design is informed by a blend of Western logical thinking and the pursuit of the Eastern lifestyle. ‘Always starts with people, and provide them a better lifestyle’, is his response to enquiries about his design style.
Consequently, the practice’s design philosophy combines Western logic with analysis ‘with a contemporary Eastern humanistic mindset’.
As at the Secret Room, the team tries to emphasise the practicality of spaces and the elevation of aesthetics. It aims to popularise designs that seamlessly integrate beauty and functionality. ■
PROJECT CREDITS
Project: Intercity Bar, Shenzhen
Lighting Design: Vermilion Zhuo Design Group
Designers: Vera Chu, Kuang Ming (Ray)
Chou, Garvin Hung, Chia Huang Liao, Ian Zhu
Client: H World Group
Photographs: Jian Quan Wu
