HotelTaichung · Newly unveiled
Oku Hotel Taichung, an Art Deco hotel in a former department store
Studio HBA Singapore turns Taichung's Sakurada Department Store into an 80-room hotel styled as a fictional traveller's collection.
The old Sakurada Department Store is a landmark in Taichung's historic Central District, and rather than strip it back, Studio HBA Singapore has kept its spirit and turned it into Oku Hotel Taichung, an 80-room boutique hotel. The idea behind the design is a playful one: 'The Department of Travellers' Tales', imagining the building as the collection of an invented globetrotter, filled with objects and memories gathered on the road.
You arrive in a triple-height lobby of tall arches and metallic finishes, with galleries and mezzanine walkways looking down on it. At the centre, Ailìse Bar's liquor tower climbs through several storeys of the atrium, above an emerald-green fluted counter topped with white stone and lined with velvet stools. French Art Deco runs throughout, reworked for now: geometric patterns, bronze accents and decorative screens, in deep navy, peacock green and gold, over herringbone timber floors.
Rooms carry the theme on, with floor-to-ceiling windows dressed in heavy velvet curtains, geometric wall details and gold touches, and bathrooms with marble, brass-framed glass and freestanding tubs. Joris Angevaare of the studio says the aim was a hotel that feels "layered with stories" while respecting the building's past.
The piece is a design write-up rather than a booking guide, so check dates and rates directly. One for Art Deco lovers and anyone curious about Taichung's reviving old centre.
Our summary of a story from Sleeper, published 13 October 2026. Read the original
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From Sleeper