Two flagship restaurants at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong dish up decadence and glamour.

Silverfox Studios | The idyllic seaside city of Xiamen has been a major port for centuries: a former international trading hub and present-day tourist destination, the city has a unique topography among Chinese cities. The neighbouring Gulangyu Island, a car-free island with historical European architecture, is nicknamed the “Island of Music” for its musical history and piano museums. Zeng Cuo An, a former fishing village, is now a vibrant food street with stalls and guesthouses.

Xiamen has kept its laid-back charm even through periods of intense Chinese development, and has attracted an ever-changing profile of visitors and residents: Condé Nast Traveller identifies a growing creative class of fashion designers from Beijing and Shanghai who have moved to the Longshan Fashion Center. Xiamen’s coastal business hub status attracts professional visitors from the region, with facilities like the Xiamen International Convention and Exhibition Center hosting major events.

Along Xiamen Island’s southeast coastline, the Hyatt Centric Ocean Front Xiamen provides a home base for travellers looking to connect with the city’s unique landscape. Silverfox Studios has worked to shape the hotel with local cultural experiences: the brick structures of Zeng Cuo An, breezy beaches, and local crafts have all found themselves in the design of the hotel.

Conceptualised for the Hyatt Centric series, the Hyatt Centric Ocean Front is housed in a low, stretched building resembling a seaside house. Trimmed with local plants and lofted timber ceilings, it reflects a Silverfox tendency of creating spaces that blend seamlessly with their surroundings. The main lobby displays the hotel’s signature motif in a structure behind the reception counter: a fern-like shape in aluminium, which gleams like mother-of-pearl.

The ground floor of the hotel has been designed to mirror the pedestrian streets and markets of Zeng Cuo An. There are few enclosed spaces, and restaurants and lounges are kept open and connected by winding footpaths. This creates an atmosphere of relaxed but constant activity: a guest walking in would see steaming kitchens in the Cookhouse, guests relaxing at the Beach Bar, and hear pianos playing in the House of Music.

Three main dining areas for breakfast, the Cookhouse, Greenhouse Dining, and Bakery, function through the day: they are designed to be partitioned into separate outlets after breakfast hours. Like food stalls in Zeng Cuo An, they have open kitchens and displays of food: guests dine in canopies with plants overhead, and in small pavilions or courtyards. The House of Music, positioned in the center of the first storey, is an open social lounge and listening room with a darker, richer palette. Named for Gulangyu Island, this lounge has an eclectic display of speakers, vintage sound equipment, and hosts nightly live performances.

The Island Club is the hotel’s dedicated event space: located across the basement floor, it spans several event rooms, a Main Assembly Room, and multiple relaxation and dining spaces.  Appropriately beach house-themed, the Island Club makes heavy use of light timber furniture, powdered steel finishes and terrazzo tiles. The primary pre- and post-event area, the Retreat, is directly connected to the Main Assembly Room and accessible from all meeting rooms: relaxation areas are distributed evenly around the basement. With various lounge areas and a long bar area named the Cabin, where food and drinks are served, the Retreat also has a large, sunken skylight roof.

The Hyatt Centric Ocean Front is close to Xiamen Island’s southeastern coast, which has a unique palette of natural materials: red brick buildings, timber boardwalks, and local vegetation that grows around these structures. These buildings stretch towards the water, where beaches like the pristine Baicheng Sandy Beach attract hundreds of visitors. To create the Rooftop Bar, Silverfox Studios has carefully created a familiar silhouette against the Xiamen skyline: lounging canopies across a long pool, reminiscent of fishing boats, made from breezy timber. Light curtains and hanging vegetation mirror streets outside the hotel.

The spacious Standard Guestroom is, like the Island Club, in a welcoming white-and-blue palette. Pine and stone, two textures that feature heavily in the material palette of Xiamen, are used around the room: granite sink counters and floors, pine shelves engraved with the hotel’s signature pattern.

With the design of this suite, Silverfox Studios has addressed a gap in the hospitality market that has long been overlooked by industries: the needs of female travellers. Voyages Jules Verne, a small-group tour operator, reported in a Guardian article in 2025 that just under 70% of its solo bookings were made by female travellers. Female-focused hospitality design is needed as women enter business and leisure travel as a new demographic market: female travellers value safety, comfort, and restorative wellness, and appreciate amenities like smaller dressing gowns, manicure kits and hair dryers.

The Hyatt Centric brand, known for its guest-centric approach and progressive environment, easily adapted to this new demand. The Standard Guestroom has a strategically elongated corridor, which places distance between the bed and door for a greater sense of security. A large walk-in closet and powder room-style bathroom counter are practical to female travellers: they connect the shower and bedroom with sliding doors.

The Hyatt Centric Ocean Front Xiamen represents, to Silverfox Studios, the new and conscious hotel: culturally attuned, comfortable, and quietly fashionable.  Like a luxurious guesthouse, features around the hotel are attuned to people, revealing a guest-first approach.

Project: Hyatt Centric Ocean Front Xiamen
Location: China
Design Studio: Silverfox Studios
Photo Credits: Ooki Jingu
Website: silverfoxstudios.design