Katy Ghahremani, Director, Make Architects has been speaking at our Future Cities Forum 2 about how the Chinese understand the concept of building hotels to anchor retail developments.

She has overseen the building of The Temple House in Chengdu, China, which is a luxury boutique hotel, mixing heritage with modern design and which draws shoppers through the retail area that it sits in.

It is part of Swire Hotels and Katy says the way she has designed it is based on the deep cultural understanding that she gained while in Chengdu. Sophisticated in their tastes, she describes how the Chinese want a contemporary experience in hotel architecture but one that is fully embedded in a sense of place that recognises the context of historical buildings..

Hear how Katy describes her experience of this Chinese principle: