Gold Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2020
Ufia Hotel
by Xiaobing Yao
- A' Design Award 2020 Gold Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Yao Xiaobing Design Studio
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 20,991
- Verification code E28450492B · Verify this award
About Ufia Hotel
Ufia is a hotel interior design located in Chongqing. The project covers 1200 square meters and remodels the existing interior. In the elevator lobby, layers of gypsum board form peak shapes finished with black artistic paint, recalling rolling hills. A mirror stainless steel sculpture hangs in the center like a wave, and silver water drops appear to splash on the black rubber floor. Carpet, dark gray artistic coating, rust-like coating and white latex paint are used in the public areas. The design brings the landscape of Chongqing into the hotel.
Xiaobing Yao's Ufia Hotel emerges from contemporary hospitality design traditions that embrace parametric architecture and biomorphic formalism as pathways toward transcendent guest experiences, positioning itself within a lineage of spatial innovation that reconceives interior environments as immersive sculptural installations rather than mere functional containers. The work demonstrates exceptional command of material expression, with the flowing white forms achieving seemingly impossible continuous curves that suggest advanced digital modeling and fabrication technologies working in harmony with traditional craftsmanship sensibilities. The compositional strategy orchestrates a compelling dialogue between organic fluidity and angular geometry, as the soft undulating reception element and ceiling installation counterpoint the sharply faceted black wall planes, creating visual tension that activates the space dynamically while maintaining coherent aesthetic unity. The suspended dark mineral mass introduces primordial resonance, grounding the futuristic white forms with elemental earthiness that suggests geological time scales against the contemporary architectural intervention. The floor treatment, with its topographical contour patterning, extends the nature-architecture synthesis by evoking cartographic representations of terrain, perhaps referencing the specific landscape context that inspired the design or invoking universal connections between human habitation and geological formation. Light functions as a primary material here, with concealed sources creating the luminous glow that defines the sculptural volumes and establishes the atmospheric quality of contemplative wonder. The inclusion of a human figure in motion provides essential scale reference while suggesting the experiential dimension of moving through this remarkable environment. One might consider how such spaces transform the transactional moment of hotel arrival into an encounter with the sublime, inviting guests to pause and absorb an environment that celebrates human creative capacity and technological achievement in service of elevated spatial experience.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- In this case, designers mainly want to reflect a peak shape made of plasterboard with black artistic paint finishes protruding from the top surface, forming the peaks of the rolling hills. Now many designs focus on the materials of the wall, floor and rooftop, but the designers want to elaborate feelings from a spatial perspective. They hope to be able to portray the landscape of Chongqing into the hotel, and giving travelers an artistic conception of one rainy autumn night.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The project covers a total of 1200 square meters. It mainly remodeled the interior decoration. On the top surface of the elevator room, and the layers made of gypsum board run through the space like a hanging river. In the middle, the stainless steel sculpture hangs down, which is like a wave. The small amount of silver water drops splashing on the black rubber ground look very prominent.
- Tags
- Interior, Hotel, Modern, Simple, Art, Water Drop, Chongqing Characteristics
- Production Technology
- In the elevator lobby, reception hall and hotel corridor of the Ufia Hotel, the materials designers have used are floor carpet, dark gray artistic coating, black high-gloss latex paint, rust-like artistic coating, mirror stainless steel, white latex paint and black rubber.
- Design Challenge
- This project has a lot of curved surfaces and it is difficult to put out the line. For the ceiling of the elevator hall, the drawings use three points and one line respectively according to the ceiling levels of different heights, that is, mark the starting point, end point and quadrant point, and the elevation of each point. After receiving the renderings, the workers did not know how to carry out the construction process. So the designers rushed to the scene immediately to guide the workers.
- Project Duration
- The project started in April 2019 in Chongqing and finished in September 2019 in Chongqing.
- Operation Flow
- For this project, in order to realize the design as soon as possible, when the project team is at the construction site, many surface layers and curves are staked out according to the model made by the model group in the computer. To ensure the degree of visual rendition from the rendering to the real-scene map can basically reach 95% and above.
- Research
- The decoration combines Chongqing's landscape elements, and each room has a different theme. In addition to being an excellent place to stay for tourists, the hotel's characteristic decoration itself has made it become a tourist destination, especially famous among young people. In addition to convenient transportation, close to the major attractions, and easy for exploration, the hotel's public areas and guest room design are worth taking pictures of those who come here.
- Inspiration
- Chongqing faces the water on three sides and leans against the mountain on the other, cascading buildings and circling roads create the unique night view to the mountain city. Therefore, designers use water and water drop as creative elements of sudden inspiration in the whole hotel, combining with Chongqing symbols.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Guang Ji, The Reception Hall, 2018.
Image #2: Photographer Guang Ji, Guest Room, 2018.
Image #3: Photographer Guang Ji, Guest Room 2, 2018.
Image #4: Photographer Guang Ji, Corridor, 2018.
Image #5: Photographer Guang Ji, Details, 2018. - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Xiaobing Yao, 2019.