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9 Nov 2011

Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai

If not artistically inclined, staying at the iconic Swatch Art Peace Hotel is expected to be 'wait list' only.

The former Palace Hotel fronting Shanghai's Bund waterfront is one of the city's oldest hotels. In its opening year, 1909, the First International Opium Commission was held here, and Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling celebrated their engagement in 1927. Winding the clock forward to 2011, this venerable landmark has been re-set as an 'art residence' for jet-set artists and travellers by new leaseholders, the Swatch Group.

Behind the russet-and-white Victorian Renaissance façade, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel is a bold reinvention. The Swatch Group's China flagship Breguet, Omega, Blancpain and Swatch boutiques grace the gilded street-level rooms on the Nanjing Road/Bund intersection. But this is more than a retail destination, or even a design hotel.


Behind the russet-and-white Victorian Renaissance façade,
the Swatch Art Peace Hotel is a bold reinvention.
Top: The rooftop terrace of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai.

Ascending the dark Jacobean staircase, 18 work-live apartments are occupied by selected guest artists-in-residence from around the world, who enjoy a free six-month tenure. The antithesis of the 'tortured artist', these lucky painters, videographers, composers and other arty types create and bed down in designer ateliers, relax in the chic communal library, kitchen and lounges overlooking the Bund, and exhibit their work in sunlit studios and blonde-wood gallery spaces.

In return, they must leave a piece of art for the hotel collection. An installation of musically vibrating wires strung across a hotel wall is a reminder of one artist's recent stay.


Guest accommodation ranges from simple 40 sq m abodes with bare
oak floors and grey brick walls repurposed from Shanghai alleys...


In contrast to the overtly modern suites, the hotel's wood-panelled lobby
has been left intact to retain some of its historic character.


The Peace suite. All photos: wallpaper.com. See more of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai.

If not artistically inclined, staying at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel is expected to be 'wait list' only. On the fourth floor, seven individually designed rooms and suites are available for reservations. These range from simple 40 sq m abodes with bare oak floors and grey brick walls repurposed from Shanghai alleys, to four quirky, themed suites stretching up to 250 sq m.

The suites, by Parisian designers Jouin Manku (comprising Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku), are inspired by Chinese culture with an edge of Shanghai audacity. In the Happiness Suite, a king-sized bed is cupped inside a cane half-birdcage, while a black ink-well bathtub is shielded from view by semi-transparent silk screens splashed with watercolour characters.

The kaleidoscopic Prosperity Suite is a rock-star worthy pad with a canary yellow lounge leading through to a huge cocktail bar and mirror clad jet shower. For jetlagged guests, an installation of tiny dangling sheep figurines beside the bed can be counted into snooze mode.

The sixth-floor penthouse is reserved for Kuala Lumpur-based pan-Asian restaurant and bar Shook!. Its alfresco rooftop bar, complete with two private cupola lounges, is a top spot for sunset cocktails against the dazzling backdrop of Shanghai's own artfully eccentric skyline.

The article is republished with permission from Wallpaper.com.

China » Shanghai

讀者回應

1. 2011-11-27 07:50  
When I first set foot in that hotel, some 20 years ago, I had to put the bed in the middle of the room and powder with Baygon all around it. I was invaded by hundreds of running cockroaches. I had to sleep with all lights on and a night mask. A real nightmare for 5 days. The wooden floor was probably never polished and it was rotting, the bloody roaches were scurrying in every corner at any time.
I really hope it has been fumigated!
2. 2011-12-05 14:31  
I first went there over 15 years ago and it was very 'original'. I recently went there with some friends and we had over priced drinks and everything was pristine. It was actually the last of the grand Far East hotels to get the five star make over. Even the one in Rangoon had been done up by the generals. I miss the overflowing urinals. The jazz bar had a minimum drink rule and was far too tidy.

3. 2012-02-23 07:41  
over priced , tidy??? naaa way
回應#4於於2012-06-16 11:11被作者刪除。
回應#5於於2012-06-16 11:12被作者刪除。
回應#6於於2012-06-16 11:22被作者刪除。
回應#7於於2012-06-16 16:27被作者刪除。
8. 2012-06-16 16:33  
# 1, is this ture? Peace Hotel is the like that, Are you sure it was Peace Hotel wasn't a cheap motel?I heard that U.S. President Richard Nixon was stay in Peace hotel when he visited Shanghai. If that, I wondering what would like the lives of ordinary people? Their families must be thousands,thoudands of cockroaches and you also brought Baydan? 20 years ago, China has not got those luxurious, I guess. the rich countries only. This is why the reason's of millions cockroaches in China. O, btw where were you from? The wealth of the United States of America or other European countries (no insulting).
9. 2012-06-16 16:34  
It is funny enought, I rarely heard that Asians complained that some Western countries everything are very expensive, some people do not friendly, racism, many places are dangerous, some are narrow minded that thinking only their culture is civilized,the other still are ignorant and primitive, Only their way of life is noble and dignified.

Perhaps Asain people's expetetion are lower, Asians do not have haught nature and respect is a basic Asain's etiquette.

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