Kerry Hotel blends sea views, openness to create ‘urban oasis’
Interior designer Andre Fu plays up the harbour location, using elements suggestive of the movement of water and ‘being absorbed into the openness of the environment’ in the recently opened 500-room hotel designed by architect Rocco Yim
Hongkongers will be familiar with The Upper House, the hotel in Pacific Place that opened in 2009 and propelled Andre Fu into the big league. He has worked on a string of luxury hospitality projects in the years since and among key completions this year is the Kerry Hotel, the first new hotel on the Kowloon waterfront in 20 years.
Beginning business in early May, the 16-storey, 500-room property, situated beside the Hung Hom ferry pier, aims to make the most of its harbour location. Designed by architect Rocco Yim and interior designer Andre Fu, it was conceived as an “urban resort”, with a large terrace to encourage alfresco dining.
“The Kerry Hotel is to do with being absorbed into the openness of the environment – the soft silhouettes, the curvature and the general flow of how the outdoor and indoor is almost blurred into one,” Fu says.
Curved Turkish onyx in the lobby is suggestive of the movement of water and feature screens in some of the guest rooms show a ripple pattern, a watery effect that is echoed in the detail on the carpet.
Keeping with the watery theme, the colour palette for the guest rooms is mineral blue.