Hotel Éclat: Inside an Intelligent Urban Pyramid

Chaoyang is the most populous district in Beijing. Literally translated to “facing the sun,” it’s home to most of the city’s embassies, high-end shopping, and thousands of local residents. It is also home to Parkview Green, a stunning glass pyramid and shining example of green building and the first integrated commercial complex to be awarded LEED Platinum in China. With more than 2 million square feet, the building houses office, conference, retail, leisure space, a Tesla dealership, and the amazing Hotel Éclat.

The Concept

The first thing you notice about Parkview Green—designed by Integrated Design Associates and engineered by ARUP—is its pyramid shape, which serves multiple functions. The shape was chosen as a consideration to the residential area it’s next to, as it minimizes blocking natural light. It also acts as a bubble around two nine-story and two 18-story towers within it, creating a “microclimate.”

The buffer zone created within helps keep the environment relatively uniform and easily changed. It also increases the thermal insulation, reducing energy consumption. The concept creates a neighborhood within a neighborhood, a controlled and highly efficient year-round green space to live, work, and play.

First Impressions

“We are putting living, working, socializing, and shopping all together,” says Oliver Lai, general manager of Parkview Green. “Like a small city you can stay, you can find food, you can find entertainment, watch a movie, you can have a family hangout.” Though “one building, one city” design concepts aren’t new, Parkview Green’s execution is fantastic. You get the feeling you are entering an entire neighborhood versus an enclosed mixed-use building.

Biophilic design practices and unusual navigation patterns (the building houses the world’s largest indoor bridge) make the building something to explore, versus be trapped in. Visitors are also met with a daring, and expansive, collection of modern art, including more than 40 sculptures by Salvador Dali.

The Rooms at Hotel Éclat

The five-star, 100-room, luxury hotel has 20 individually styled suites with their own private indoor terrace and pools (pool water is run to the basement, cleaned, and reused in the greywater system). The suites are expansive (Lady Gaga hosted her birthday party there) and can run upwards of $17,000 a night.

Standard suites with a “terrace” (actually still indoors) are a much more reasonable $340 a night. All rooms come with access to a gym, purified water, and fresh fruit. Each guest floor is themed and is carefully hosted by thoughtful staff.

Sustainability

What really stands out at the hotel is the engineering work done by ARUP. Their team created special ventilation louvers, installed at the top of the building, that act as chimneys, allowing the warmest air to escape and creating an upward flow of air. As the air escapes, cooler air is drawn up from the bottom of the building, creating air movement and natural ventilation.

In March 2017, the building also earned Asia Pacific’s first LEED Dynamic Plaque, which, according to George Wong, executor of Hong Kong Parkview Group, is “Parkview Green’s architectural Bible. It focuses our construction around function and the surrounding environment, creating a firm sense of corporate commitment.” The building currently uses 44% less energy than industry standards.

The Verdict

Hotel Éclat is an amazing building. It sets an example for spectacular green building, intelligent design, and high performance. However, it also embraces its uniqueness—there is no hotel quite like it in the world. It’s thoughtful without being bland, daring without being uncomfortable. The building has definitively raised the bar for sustainable hospitality in Beijing.

GREEN FACTS ABOUT PARKVIEW GREEN

• High Energy Efficiency: Parkview Green FangCaoDi achieves 89 KWH/m2/Year, which is 44% less than the LEED ASHRAE standard baseline.
• High Water Efficiency: Parkview Green FangCaoDi achieves 211 L/m2/Year, which is a savings of 48% over the LEED baseline.
• Recycling: Parkview Green FangCaoDi was able to recycle 81% of its construction wastage, much higher than the LEED requirement and average rate in China.
• Regional materials acquired within 500 miles of the building site make up 42% of total material cost of Parkview Green FangCaoDi, significantly exceeding LEED requirements of 20%.
• Highly filtered indoor air quality throughout the offices and retails spaces.
• Parkview Green FangCaoDi meets MERV 11 standards of air quality, the highest standard for mixed use development. Traditional buildings on average meet only MERV 7 standards.
• Access to natural daylight throughout the building due to the transparent ETFE membrane roof with 98% less UV.

[Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Éclat Beijing]