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Allied Architects International renovate a Shanghai Landmark
The Peace Hotel, located at the corner of the Bund and the Nanjing Road, is one of the classic historical buildings and landmarks of Shanghai. Through the restoration of as many original features as possible, redecoration of obsolete areas and a new addition to accommodate all necessary functions, the Peace Hotel revitalisation followed the principal of preserving the architectural style, enhancing the original appearance and complying with the Nanjing Road masterplan to regain the hotel's former fame as the world class hotel.
Originally named as the Cathay Hotel, it made its reputation abroad as the top luxury place to stay in Shanghai in the 1930s but at the time of the restoration, the 80 years of continual use and minimal maintenance severely impacted its status. The top-of-the-line technology of the old days was no more able to meet contemporary standards.
Getting back to its original glory, providing guests and visitors the opportunity to enjoy whatever historic features are left in their original locations and carrying out its cultural value while revitalising its functions, was the AAI vision for the Peace Hotel retrofit right from the beginning. For this purpose, AAI spent considerable amount of time and energy working on historical investigation and search during preliminary project phase to be able to preserve essential building elements such as the historic arcade in the shape of a Chinese character or the magnificent octagonal hall on the ground floor.
By retrofitting, reorganising, preserving and adding various hotel components, AAI reopened the corridor to the east entrance and revitalised the historic jazz bar, the lobby bar, the Peace Hall, the Dragon-Phoenix Hall etc. Furthermore, the fragments of the splendor of the past were blended into the brand new experience of the contemporary environment under the Fairmont Grand Hotel label.
The Peace Hotel started a new chapter of this almost a century old history and as the witness of the Shanghai contemporary development.
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