Jingdezhen Taoxichuan Hotel Hyatt Collection

Jingdezhen in northeast Jiangxi is the world's porcelain capital. For a thousand years it served emperors, famed as the essence of the East for its supreme ceramics. From translucent white porcelain to green and blue glazes, from the Silk Road to the kiln, porcelain is more than a product; it is an art form and a way of being. This is a cultural destination hotel, where marble gives way to ceramics. The modern brick building by David Chipperfield Architects consists of three courtyard blocks linked by a wide interior street. AIM's interior approach first completes the building, extending the exterior brick facade into interior space so the architecture is whole rather than replaced. The second move gives each of the three volumes a different ceramic craft: the lounge is treated with green glaze; the restaurant and spa with cobalt blue; the conference and banquet halls with the lightness and transparency of white porcelain. Walking through the hotel is walking through different ceramic techniques; the usual marble sequence of a standard hotel becomes a kaleidoscope of craft and technology.