September_1970 — Page 22

Lounge area off main lobby

Dining area of a suite

Typical guest room furnishings

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plished by a harmonious blending of contemporary and traditional elements.

An existing stone wall around the property has been retained, along with an ancient gatehouse at the main en- trance. As the visitor approaches the building through the ancient gatehouse and up the circular drive, he proceeds under a contemporary pagoda-type porte cochere which offers a pause and helps make the architectural transition from one age to another.

The hotel is a slab and beam re- inforced concrete building with its structural elements expressed in expos- ed exterior concrete spandrel beams and columns.

It is a 21-storey building containing 504 guest rooms and suites. Each room is equipped with individual heating and air-conditioning controls, a five-channel music system, telephone, message lights and bathroom with combination tub and shower.

The guest rooms occupy the fifth to 19th floors, with the public areas and restaurants on the lower floors. A spacious lobby extends through two storeys and is luxuriously finished in Italian marble floors, wood-panelled walls, unusual modern lantern fixtures and carpeted lounge areas. An oriental theme is introduced through Korean chests, chairs, paintings and artifacts.

Dominant feature of the lobby is a wide, open circular stairway which spirals up to the private dining and function room level and down to a lower lobby of shopping arcades. Throughout the full height of the three- storey well of the stairs, hundreds of cut-glass geometric forms are suspended to catch and reflect the light and colour of the surrounding decor.

Warm oranges, browns, and yellow predominate in the hotel's colour scheme, which in the guest rooms is combined with wooden screens, Korean paintings and art objects to impart an Asian feeling to the basically contem- porary furniture styles. This oriental atmosphere is extended to hallways and foyers. The elevator lobby on a typical floor for example is set off with drop- ped and lighted ceiling panels on which beautiful Korean designs have been painted. The carpeting reflects the ceil- ing motif in the centre of the lobby.

The Chosun has three main restau- rants the Galaxy, a rooftop supper club; the Doll's House, an American- style coffee shop; and the 9th Gate, the main dining room which is elegant- ly decorated in rich reds and blacks and delicately carved open-screen walls. A cocktail lounge adjoining the main dining room is furnished in red-laquered

Far East BUILDER, September 1970