On the first day back after the long holiday, I want to dream in this room that has a rainbow

On the first day back at work after the holiday, are you still lost in a wonderful trip, unable to pull yourself out? I really can't believe that the longest holiday of the year has just passed, and I simply didn't get enough of it!

Once upon a time, travel was about hurried sightseeing and checking in at scenic spots, but nowadays what people want to pursue is the memory of a city. When Shaoyao travels, she likes to wander through little-known alleys, stay in the most authentic homestays, and get to know the lives of ordinary people.

Shaoyao's friend Yang Yang says that a traveler should be like an explorer of a city. So the hotel he opened, Hitel, is also full of an explorer's spirit. Today, let's follow Yang Yang to explore Xiamen's local flavor and urban character.

Three Courses and an Open Canoe

 Two Years In April

Tamas Wells 

00:00/03:06

{Shaoyao Girl Vol.904 }

x

The taste of a city

"If you also think there's no need to rush out the door every day to check in at attractions, then perhaps in a familiar yet unfamiliar city, you can lazily curl up in bed, casually eat a meal, watch a movie, lazily hide in the sofa and listen to some songs, and read a small useless book..."

Shaoyao read this passage at Hitel, and it said, "If a free and easy life can also be the meaning of travel, then Hitel will accompany you to explore.”

Xiamen has never lacked literary, fresh, and highly individual homestays, but when Shaoyao first saw Hitel, she was still stunned, as if a region of her brain had suddenly been emptied out.

Hitel is directly connected to Xiamen, yet completely out of step with Xiamen's artsy youth vibe. It is a peculiar existence with a strong sense of unreality.

When the sun is bright during the day,

you might encounter a rainbow in one of the rooms;

at night, the light wells steal down the light,

and the silver-white building becomes a white moonlight.

More than a dozen light wells are interspersed throughout the building,

like more than a dozen telescopes installed,

gazing into space, exploring the universe.

The most incredible thing is,

indoors there is even food that can float.

In terms of space, there are no longer entire walls and properly regular windows,

but many triangles, squares, and semicircles,

and during the soft opening, children treated it as a playground.

The layout of an ordinary hotel is usually a line, one direction.

In Hitel, there is no enclosed single route,

there is an elevator in the middle of the corridor, stairs on both sides,

and multiple possible ways to walk.

The hotel area is divided into Hi Space,

Hi Kitchen, Hi Store, and guest rooms.

Hi Space is an urban exhibition space

with its own cultural leanings,

where very fun exhibitions will be held.

Hi Kitchen is the hotel's restaurant and bar.

Sleep until you wake up naturally,

or after going to the seaside to watch the sunrise,

enjoy a highly photogenic breakfast in the restaurant.

Hi Store is the hotel's shop.

If after checking in,

you take a fancy to some object, you can come here to buy it.

Here there will be guest room products produced by Hitel,

as well as brand products from some independent designers.

Shaoyao originally thought that the person who could create this kind of hotel must be an eccentric science-and-engineering guy who only cared about the universe and data and scoffed at art and life. But after meeting Yang Yang, she found that he had both the rationality of a science-and-engineering guy and an artistic inner world given to him by Xiamen.

As a Xiamen local, he rarely lives for long in other cities. I believe you understand,with mountains, lakes, the sea, islands, the city, and gardens, he can travel as soon as he leaves home.

What Yang Yang likes most is Jimei School Village.Born and raised there, its clear mountains and beautiful waters gave him a rich humanistic temperament.He studied in the computer science department at Xiamen University, majoring in e-commerce. After dropping out, he joined a clothing company as general manager assistant.

During 6 years of work, he became thoroughly familiar with a company's structure, brand operations, and so on, and afterward decided to start his own business independently.

During that period, the studio moved twice, both times with an illustrator partner in charge of design and renovation. She felt she was almost becoming a spatial designer, so she thought of doing a homestay.

The first time they went to choose a site, they found Dongping Mountain,beside a lake and backed by mountains, with chickens and ducks running around the mountain paths. To think the city center had such wild charm. Yang Yang liked it very much after seeing it.

In 2014, they joined with a few friends to found "Ciao Camellia", with 7 different rooms. Art, mountain forest, and moonlight were all taken in.

The original studio was hidden in a villa community not far from Pearl Harbor, quiet and convenient. Yang Yang had always been reluctant to let it go, so he simply also used it as a homestay - "Keyizhu" Life Hostel, simple and comfortable, retaining warmth within its fresh and light style.

Keyizhu

"Five points to the boss, the design taste is off the charts", "A super good-looking homestay, when I was about to book it, I couldn't look away after one glance"The feedback for Keyizhu was unexpectedly good. He felt he was quite suited to combining space and products, and inwardly looked forward to his next work.

In particular, because of spatial limitations at "Keyizhu", many of the original ideas were never realized.

Keyizhu

When choosing the site for the new hotel, that is, when choosing the site for Hitel, "Mr. Old Objects" Yang Hanjing introduced a place. They had just moved to a new park, and at the time only the last building remained. Actually it had already been rented out, but the other party did not fulfill the agreement, so it became vacant again.

In Xiamen's Huli old industrial district, Huamei Cigarette Factory,

built in the 1980s, with an area of 3000 sq m.

It is not in a scenic area, and no sea view can be seen.

Its surroundings also seem to have nothing to do with the fresh and light style,

as they are all old residential districts and industrial areas.

Some people worried that the occupancy rate would not be high.

But he felt exactly the opposite: no noise, no commotion, ordinary streets, a place full of everyday life. Not in a scenic area, but not far from anywhere, one could say it is a central location.

The first time he saw the old factory building, he thought it was just an ordinary building, only suitable in size and suitable in location. Some large-span column-free spaces, white-and-green mosaic exterior walls... Only later did he discover that inside there was another world.

After seeing the work of designer Tang Jiansong, Yang Yang decided to choose him.

"In renovation, there are only two ways: one is to preserve as much as possible, and the other is to destroy as much as possible."

The mosaic on the exterior wall, the fire escape stairs, and some pipes - although not many old things were left, they were very useful. In the end, apart from the building structure itself, every space was brand new.

It took two years, with repeated adjustments in many places and no fewer than a dozen rounds of revision. The paint and renovation contractor was almost driven crazy and would go on strike whenever there was nothing else. They had no choice but to use both threats and inducements, giving him all kinds of ideas, and slowly making changes.

Should the air-conditioning panel be placed on the inner side, or in the wardrobe?

Should there be a worktable?

For the door handle, use aluminum to make a semicircle.

It was very difficult, and they made many samples...

Regarding the interior details, they discussed no fewer than a hundred times from beginning to end.

As for the hotel's original inspiration,

it came from the old factory building having more than a dozen light wells.

Set up the huge round telescope of more than ten meters indoors,

gaze toward the end of the universe, and that is Htel.

Once built, the hotel was set apart from a single Nordic style,

still fresh and concise,

but the whole space is richer in fun and sci-fi feeling.

Yang Yang is not a sci-fi fan. The sci-fi feeling presented by Hitel is only an attempt to explore the unknown of travel and seek a new way of urban life, wanting to provide travelers with a dual experience of accommodation, dining, reading, exhibitions, and other temporary living away from home and local culture different from traditional hotels and homestays.

So at Hitel, there are also two magazines, one called "Hi Art" and one self-reported "Hi City". In your leisure time at the hotel, flip through "Hi Art" and feel the charm of art.

If you want to go out and have fun, flip through "Hi City". Inside there are the real memories of Xiamen, the taste of Xiamen, and also a family letter Lu Xun wrote to Xu Guangping when he first arrived in Xiamen. Between the lines, feel Xiamen in Lu Xun's eyes.

We always think that only a hotel that can see the most beautiful local scenery counts as good. If in Lijiang, the best hotel is one that sees Yulong Snow Mountain; if in Hangzhou, the best is one that sees West Lake...

Actually,a hotel itself is a scenery. The reason it is named Hitel is the hope that in the hotel, with just a relaxed greeting, Hi, it is full of rich possibilities.

If you are interested in Yang Yang's story

October 10, 2018 20:00

he will, on the lifestyle crowdfunding platform

[Kaishiba]

launch the "Xiamen Hitel" crowdfunding project