Kempinski Hotel Hangzhou, situated adjacent to the premier section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, plays a crucial role in the comprehensive development of Ocean International Center. To the west of the site, Gongchen Bridge, Xiaohe Street, and Dadou Road display rich historical significance, whereas the eastern side is home to the modern Grand Canal Place commercial plaza. The canal's historical memory and the energetic urban environment create a captivating contrast on the site, where the hotel resembles a vessel anchored in a thriving heart, offering an escape from the city's bustle.

The design unfolds a large building volume horizontally, creating a series of staggered landscape platforms to mitigate the overwhelming impact on the riverbank. The lower-level terrace spans 110m in length and 35m in width, housing a full-day restaurant and a swimming pool. Positioned at an elevation of 20m, this terrace offers unobstructed views of the canal surface, extending beyond the lush foliage of street trees. Moreover, the upper-level terraces feature bars that provide panoramic views of the canal as it flows southward.

This architectural terracing creates an undulating skyline for the commercial plaza. A continuous 8-meter-deep canopy defines a well-proportioned vehicle drop-off area along the inner side of the plaza. The main hotel building and the commercial podium are connected in an L-shape, with a corridor extending towards the shopping center in the south.

The architecture features a fully glazed curtain wall system accentuating the facade's transparency. A combination of different sizes and types of glass units creates a sleek and intricate texture, complementing the unique characteristics of each functional block. The guest rooms feature expansive single-pane glass windows measuring up to 6m², the maximum limit for hotel buildings. This design aligns a generous 4.5m-wide landscape view with the room width. Similarly, the all-day restaurant includes quadruple-laminated glass panels, each surpassing 13m² in size.