Linehouse Turns Hangzhou Factory Past Into 176-Room Jen Hotel

Linehouse has completed the interiors of a 176-room Jen hotel in Hangzhou, China, owned by the Shangri-La Hotel Group and housed in an 18-floor building designed by US architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox.

The hotel sits along the Dongxin River, flanked by two former industrial factory compounds. Kohn Pedersen Fox clad the tower in steel, grey brick and glass to reference the site's industrial past, and Linehouse carried that logic inside, layering local craft over factory-era materials.

"Jen Hangzhou is an urban hotel that celebrates its neighbourhood context – one that layers history, craft, culture and rich materiality into a new perspective on Hangzhou," Linehouse said.

What greets the guest?

The ground-floor lobby uses earth-toned marble, oak panelling and relaxed furniture to keep the atmosphere calm. At the entrance, a textured artwork by artist Elsa Jeandedieu depicts an abstract version of the bridges and canal near the hotel.

Patchwork patterns on the marble floor and a bespoke lobby rug draw on the street layout and tile patterns of the surrounding neighbourhood — a claim of local grounding that, on the studio's own description, rests on abstraction rather than direct replication.

Where does the craft show?

All hospitality spaces sit on the sixth floor. The long, linear OpenHouse restaurant is wrapped in full-height glazing, with a timber ceiling feature informed by sunmao, a traditional timber joinery technique, highlighted by a thin black metal frame supporting suspended lighting.

A central coffee bar splits the restaurant into a dining area on one side and an all-day lounge on the other. The private dining room's timber canopy is angled and decorated in burnt red and yellow hues; the remaining rooms feature teal tiles and handmade ceramic wall lighting.

The adjacent Koan Bar is a triple-height venue with an undulating black metal staircase leading to an upper terrace, with platforms built in for socialising. The staircase carves through walls lined with concrete panels — another industrial nod — and curved booths in walnut timber and tan leather sit beneath it.

Three interconnected event spaces on the same floor are enveloped by undulating timber walls, with bespoke carpets again patterned from abstracted urban details of the neighbourhood.

Wellness and the guest rooms

The seventh floor holds a gym, yoga room, spa, pool and changing rooms in tactile, muted-toned materials. The gym features a lava stone wall engraved with illustrations of movement; the yoga room has hand-chiseled timber panels; a sloped, skylit annex accommodates the swimming pool.

Linehouse conceived the 176 guest rooms as "urban retreats". The palette is deliberately restrained: gun metal, oak datum, textured render and tan leather.

"The public areas explore traditional craft techniques such as sunmao timber joinery, clay tiling and bricks, natural patterns, textures and renders, whilst the guestrooms explore a refined industrial aesthetic," the studio said.

"Red brick, concrete, metal and bold forms reference the surrounding industrial environment whilst handcrafted tiles, vintage timber, colours and metals with different patinas introduce warmth, richness and texture."

Curved ceilings create indirect lighting and soften the rooms; glass-block walls light the bathrooms.

Who is behind it?

Alex Mok and Briar Hickling founded Linehouse in 2013; the practice now runs studios in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Auckland, with Mok serving as design principal here. Project credits list Kerry Properties as client, Shangri-La as operator, LPA for lighting, EDGE Design as design consultant and a 12,850-square-metre area.

What does this change for Hangzhou's hotel market? The project, coming on the heels of Linehouse's Ink Ink Market in Shanghai and the Dezeen Awards-shortlisted Central Park interiors in Bangkok, signals that Shangri-La's Jen brand is betting on craft-forward, context-specific design rather than a uniform global look.