Meliá Chongqing – a resort sanctuary hidden in the city of fog

Our design for Meliá Chongqing, a five-star mountain resort in the heart of China’s scenic Tieshanping Eco Area, reflects the Spanish hospitality group’s award-winning sustainability credentials — and the rich natural resources of the surrounding landscape.

Hidden within a verdant forest and accessed via a winding path through tall cedar woods, everything about our landscape architecture and interior design for this lakeside resort aims to emphasise a calming, seamless connection to nature.

Created around the concept of a floating palace — a nod to the resort’s lakeside location and the unique weather conditions in Chongqing, also known as the city of fog — the resort features a dramatic engraved mountain-scape behind the reception area, secluded rooms with water views and floating headboards, a bamboo forest in the atrium of the guestroom building, and a gravity-defying rock installation suspended from the lobby ceiling, all of which combine to elevate the guest experience.

The biophilic theme, a signature aesthetic for Meliá Hotels International, is further emphasised via a cross-disciplinary collaboration between our interior design and landscape architecture teams. With an architectural simplicity that is enhanced by the textures and patterns of nature, the result is an effortless extension of the exterior landscape into the heart of the resort’s interior spaces via the use of local materials and native plant species. Our design builds upon the original landscape topography of Chongqing to truly immerse the built environment within nature. Natural stone paving, which flows from the exterior to interior, continues the sensation of immersion in nature. And at a number of points along the path we’ve embedded a rich variety of wetland plants to further enhance the connection between visitors and Chongqing’s stunning natural setting.

In addition to the appeal of its natural surrounds, the resort is also conveniently accessible from the central business district of Chongqing, and so cleverly positioned to meet the needs of the rising ‘bleisure’ — business and leisure — traveller, catering for retreat-seeking guests as well as large conference events.

A spa, a serene, cloud-like swimming pool, and event spaces including a ballroom are just some the offerings available for this growing group of travellers who are blurring the boundaries between work and play. The large, modern guestrooms feature open style bathrooms that enable connectivity and flexibility and a true resort-like experience.