Accommodating Reform

International Hotels and Architecture in China, 1978-1990

‘Accommodating Reform’ traces the development of international hotel architecture in early Reform-era China (1978-90). International hotels lay at the core of China’s efforts to spur economic development while limiting the potential for political destabilisation. In theory, these spaces offered new, liberalised environments through which foreign capital, ideas, and expertise could be safely decanted over time. In practice, they heralded a series of dramatic ideological and operational transformations that opened China’s major cities, reshaped its built environment, and set the stage for future growth. Read more.

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