© Tsing Lim
To this day, cooling towers and a tall factory smokestack indicate the industrial prehistory of the five star hotel in Beijing’s Shougang Park. The Milanese office of Lissoni Casal Ribeiro created the building, operated by the luxury hotel chain Shangri-La. Located 20 km west of the Chinese capital city, the hotel is situated on a nearly 9 km2 site. Until 2011 China’s largest steel mill had been in operation here. Step by step and during the preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Chinese government shut down the facility within a program aimed at reducing smog. In follow the site was transformed into a culture and leisure park. During the 2022 Winter Olympics, the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events took place here.