City Inn is located nearby historical attraction Kuanzhai Alley in Chengdu. The client wants it to be renovated with very low budget. To make people see the history of this area, we let them to walk into the history. The hotel is transferred into a modern art gallery. Photos and products of the old good times were displayed in the lobby as art work. Every room was decorated in monotone. Pictures on the wall are street views in black-and-white color, furniture in black, white or grey are in retro style.

The room looks like a pop-up photo. If guests take photos in the room, they will find out they are the only colorful object in a black-and-white photo. When we decorate the objects of past, we don’t want people to see the worn part but the beautiful part of them. We display them as art pieces. City Inn Kuanzhai Alley is a modern are gallery of “Present and Past”.

Design: Chu Chih Kang
Photography: Chu Chih-Kang