The InterContinental Hotel is part of a new multi-building project located adjacent to Taichung's “greenbelt,” a linear art garden that has developed into a procession of both formal and informal cultural uses. The Pujen site is treated as an extension of the greenbelt itself, and includes a considerable amount of landscaped open space. Handel Architects led the master plan for the site, which in addition to the 206-key hotel includes two residential towers, a cultural center, and a church.

The hotel tower includes a 460-seat ballroom, outdoor pool deck and bar, function rooms and deck, gym, three F+B outlets, and executive lounges. The hotel embraces the greenbelt with a landscaped drop-off, lobby and restaurant uses. The drop-off is a part of the outdoor garden experience and is integrated with the other gardens that make up the greater site. The drop-off is flanked by a new church designed by Kengo Kuma, and which also opens out towards the greenbelt.

Designed to feel open and airy, the hotel podium provides visual connections to the surrounding green spaces and brings natural light into function spaces. The hotel here acts as a place where both public and private can meet, a bridge between the private residences next door and the general public.

The hotel is visually defined by a grid pattern that grows in scale as the building rises. At the top, a massive window frames the sky. At the pedestrian scale, living greenwalls continue the greenery concept vertically onto the facade.