HE latest icon to ruffle the skyline of the fast developing eastern Jiang Tai district of the Chinese capital is the aptly named EAST, Beijing, its understated lower case logo belying the impact this development will have on its surrounds. For one, it is joined at the hip with the mega INDIGO mall that has no qualms about upper casing, and with good reason. EAST or east, it is just 20 minutes from the airport, a point to note when traffic backs up in town.

This is a new and hip urban office-shopping-hotel environment for road warriors in search of something different. The reflective glass tower of EAST, Beijing casts dappled reflections over a wide swathe of land, much of it earmarked for a green-lung public park. The 369-room hotel opens September 2012 as a modern and minimalist space for business travellers with iPod Touch technology to entertain the savvy set. This is urban living at its best, reduced to a simple palate of

pastels with blues and reds framing in-room headboards. Each room features a novel Beijing photograph stretched across one wall, in a single vivid colour.  Rooms start at 30sq m and go up to 70sq m for a Studio. Standard URBAN rooms offer a polished stone-floor foyer that doubles as the bathing area on one side with a sliding door leading to the timber-floor bedroom with an invitingly plump bed draped in creaseless stark white cotton. WiFi is free. Expect a rain shower, heated towel rack, a flatscreen swivel TV, and a desk with data-port enjoying BIG Beijing views.

A corner STUDIO is expansive, clean, sparse, and attractively Zen, with a vast bathing area, tub with a view, and twin vanities. The entire fourth floor houses a pool and gym while the third floor is devoted to meetings and function spaces. The WORKSHOP includes four meeting rooms for up to 170 persons in various configurations with the added whimsy of a “candy wall” and an open kitchen for fast nibbles. For food to savour, try Feast.