Hong Kong and London-based designer Joyce Wang re-imagines a historic property in Hong Kong into a three-storey private members’ club housing the city’s largest wine cellar

Another day, another jaw-dropping project from the London and Hong Kong designer Joyce Wang, who is surely on a roll right now. Fresh from unveiling a £17m apartment in London’s latest landmark The Whiteley last month, Wang is back with a stunning restoration of one of Hong Kong’s few-remaining pre-WW2 buildings, newly minted as Club Bâtard.

Situated in the iconic Pedder Building in central Hong Kong, the 18,000-square-foot private members club ranges across three floors and houses three distinct restaurants, private dining spaces and a whisky bar. Accomplished as the restaurants are, it’s all about the wine here, and Club Bâtard wears its heart on its sleeve: the club houses Hong Kong’s largest wine cellar, and Wang has seamlessly and beautifully threaded the bars and cellars throughout all three floors.

Bottles take on a talismanic quality – in Le Clos, they are arranged as hallowed objets that take up an entire wall, while the whisky bar OBE is bejewelled with glittering bottles that curve over the ceiling.

The wine cellar itself is a pornographic fever dream for wine lovers. Spanning three floors, the 2,500-square-foot cellar houses more than 10,000 bottles in glass-fronted cabinetry, in some places caressed with louche lighting; in others, lit with Hollywood glamour. It’s beautifully done. 

But the club is no one-trick pony, and each restaurant space is remarkable in its own right. On the second floor, classical French restaurant Bâtard possesses many of Joyce Wang’s signature touches – the effortlessness with which she achieves a seductive demimonde of arches, booths, and tucked-away corners. Both classic and exotic, the marble, fluted dark wood cabinetry, and leather banquettes are entirely at ease with the tropical fauna, Asian geometric glazing and chinoiserie lighting. Of particular note are the custom fabric wallcoverings, imparting a dreamlike, impressionistic intimacy that unites the whole space.

On the floor below is Le Clos, a restaurant and club named after the walled vineyards found within French monasteries – and there is a certain religious iconography to the space, from the baronial-style hanging lights to the granite-grey walls and the suggestion of vaunted ceilings. Rich textured chair fabrics in wine-reds, burnt orange and yellows, Miróesque mosaic flooring and brass table lamps create a layered and calming interior pulled together by the stone greys and bottle-green notes . At the bar, turquoise leather bar seats chime with red-lacquered bar lamps and green marble. 

The top floor reveals further surprises. Cantonese restaurant Hop Sze is a stunningly graceful dining room, almost Wes Andersonesque in its symmetrical harmony. Blond arches cut away from curved, red and navy walls. Soft ceiling lights have a touch of Art Deco about them. The space is a real achievement. 

Sharing the floor is the OBE whisky bar. The letters stand for ‘Old Bottle Effect’ – the development of flavour in the bottle as whisky ages. It’s a dark, cosy and sensual space with notes of dark crimson, jade green, and glittering, enticing bottles.

In Club Bâtard, Wang has added a worthy addition to her impressive roster of properties across the world. It’s a growing portfolio that includes blue-chip hospitality names such as Mandarin Oriental and the Berkeley. The Joyce Wang Studio, founded in 2011, now has bases and design teams in London and Hong Kong, and has carved out a sensuous, cinematic aesthetic that is proving to be catnip to their clients.

Club Bâtard also marks the first time the studio has completed both the design and the project’s branding in its entirety. “It has been a delight to reimagine this iconic space, which brings new life to one of Hong Kong’s most historic buildings,” Wang tells us. “The brief allowed us to engage our playful side, from tongue-in-cheek peekaboo moments to more grandiose appearances. We are extremely proud of the chic yet spirited results.”