TWO hotels —Wanda Jin Yan’an and Wanda Realm Yan’an — have opened their doors to coincide with the inauguration of Red Street, a red cultural tourism project developed by Wanda Group in Yan’an, Shaanxi Province. With convenient access to major transportation terminals and landmarks, the two hotels feature 536 lake-view guestrooms and suites as well as meeting and banquet spaces covering a total area of over 6,000 square meters. The two hotels are designed to combine the rustic style of residences in northern Shaanxi, red cultural traditions of Yan’an and the convenience of modern luxury. Inspired by red tourism and red education training facilities in Red Street, the two hotels offer new experiences of red heritage for family travel and red-themed group training. Wanda Realm Yan’an takes inspiration from Yan’an’s iconic landmark Pagoda Mountain and reinterprets local cultural elements such as brick walls, cave dwellings and woodcarvings with modern design techniques. The spacious and bright hotel lobby makes use of the arched structure of cave dwellings to give the space a sense of prestige. At the top of the 12-meter-high lobby, a red five-pointed star crystal chandelier assembled from about 25,000 parts sets the solemn tone for the entire hotel. Seven magnificent relief sculptures on the lobby walls show the historic milestones that influenced the revolution in Yan’an between 1934 and 1948. Overlooking the beautiful Yanhu Lake, the 178 guestrooms are decorated with distinctive northern Shaanxi styles. The most characteristic rooms resemble the design of cave dwellings in vaults. The rooms are also equipped with a heatable brick bed and antique wooden furniture. Each cave room has its own courtyard, some of which are planted with date trees, creating an illusion of staying in a local home. Wanda Jin Yan’an takes the Yan’an Auditorium and cave dwellings as design prototypes, and adopts the unique regional architectural style and materials. The mud texture walls and the yellow-gray and red tones symbolize the Yan’an spirit of self-reliance and hard work through a strong visual feeling. The hotel lobby features elements such as cave room silhouettes and flower windows with views of Pagoda Mountain as the main background. It also has a Shandandan flower (a kind of red lily) pattern screen, horse lanterns and vintage furniture. The Red Lecture Hall, with 6,000 square meters of meeting and banquet facilities, is located between the two hotels, connecting them with a corridor. It serves as a shared meeting room and banquet hall for the hotel complex. The lobby of the Red Lecture Hall adopts the arched structure of cave dwellings, a wood ceiling and a large bronze relief sculpture called “Red Yan’an” to create a space of simplicity and majesty. The hotel’s experienced banquet service team and skilled chefs are dedicated to meet guests’ needs and provide a one-stop conference butler service.(Yang Mei) | 