Design Hotels

Blow Up Hall 50/50 is a complex that includes a restaurant, art gallery, and hotel. It commissioned its hallmark installation to be designed by crucial artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, one of the world's top digital artists. He is a BAFTA prize winner, and his work has appeared in New York and …

Ok, so you can enter this Venetian boutique hotel in a gondola, sailing in under the portcullis into the kind of mysterious tunnel you might expect to find Cardinal Richelieu doing something crafty in; but luckily for you, this is not revolutionary France, this is modern-day Venice and you are …

The Son Gener hotel is an 18th Century farmhouse lovingly restored set in acres of private property in a very rural and quiet area of Majorca. Far from the madness of the tourist-thronged beach and thong-bottomed festivities of the south; the beaches nearby are as if you stepped back in …

‘Seekoo’ is Inuit for ‘mass of ice’. It is also Boudreaux’s only 4-star design hotel and the first hotel in the world to be made entirely from the architectural equivalent of George’s Marvelous Medicine, Corian. Corian is a material somewhere between plastic and metal that can be shaped easily without …

“Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, keep your wagon rollin” so the song goes, unless, that is, you’re staying in a special rolling hut. In which case, you will want to stay right where you are in Washington’s beautiful Methow Valley. The remarkably versatile wooden units were designed to be an alternative to …

This boutique hotel is designed to make you feel like you are at home, or at least the guest of someone with exquisite taste and a lot of money. The furniture is vintage Swedish, the views are of the peaceful garden and there are MP3 players and individually controlled air …

Built in the 1940s in the Bauhaus style, this modern architecture is striking and functional. It looks wide awake with windows that open up the side of the building and encompass views of the beautiful habitats of Pucon. Manicured gardens blossom with local plants, trees and shrubs and you can …

So you’re fed up with anonymous hotel corridors, beige walls, and red carpets. And you have dined in too many dark-wood restaurants with leather-bound menus. So what you need to do is go to Athens and head over to the Baby Grand Hotel and get your mind blow-dried by some …

No, the G here doesn’t stand for ‘Gangsta’ although they may serve Crystal Champagne. Interiors by Philip Treacy OBE (he was the guy who designed the Internet’s favorite hat – the one worn by Princess Beatrice’s at the royal wedding). This top designer used an eclectic style palate drawing from …

This hotel was first conceived as a place for a group of friends to live together. Then they decided to make it into a hotel where everything is made by the darlings of Berlin’s burgeoning art scene. So expect the unexpected. The hotel rule book has been cut up and …

So it’s an ultra-modern wooden cabin with views over the grand ocean waves by the famous Hirtle’s Beach. It may look like the sort of cube you would find in a toddler’s mouth but inside it is a triumph of eco-sensitive architecture and cutting edge ergonomics. It has caused considerable …

This hotel gives you the choice: traditional Spanish Baroque or Japanese-style cubes. The designer was inspired to create the unique ‘Kube’ rooms after reading a philosophical piece called ‘In Praise of Shadows’ by Tanizaki who is one of Japan’s great modern writers. It is a sophisticated space with one glass …

Blessed by the Goddess Hera, Jason and his team of Argonauts boarded a vessel bound for mystical lands… hang on… wrong review. Yes, the Argonaut Hotel does not have anything to do with golden fleeces or reanimated skeletons. Well - that’s disappointing. Actually, the name refers to the first citizens …

Not long ago, it was just another ruined castle. Now beautifully restored, it sits in 10 hectares of land and a historic vineyard. The old outbuildings have been incorporated into the new design to create a modern complex making the most of the historic architecture. In 1163 a crusading knight, …

Designed to enhance the beauty of the natural landscape traditionally used for farming and olive grows by the native Basque people, Aire de Bardenas is a great example of how contemporary architecture can be used to build excellent hotels. The main façade of the hotel is built from containers originally …

Hotel Palafitte takes Japanese minimalism and combines it with over-water bungalows from the South Pacific islands and places it all in the Swiss Alps. And not just anywhere in the Swiss Alps, in one of the best spots available in the converted Three Lakes region. Contemporary hardwood floors and designer …

Coal mining was the principal industry of the Limburg area. The Carbon Hotel takes its namesake from these seams of history that run through the rocks and culture of the area. Luckily that’s where the similarity with coal mining ends. Your room has an iPod dock, a BOSE Soundsystem, designer …

Two specially commissioned holiday apartments located high in the Austrian Alps where the scented air holds, in its spell, spicy conifer forests and ancient glaciers. Professor of architecture, Andreas Meck used bird’s nests for his inspiration. He placed his design hotel on the edge of a deep valley with views …

Famous for its ‘mood rooms’ – this is Stockholm’s foremost design hotel. Its rooms are fitted with lighting designed to inspire moods and create atmospheres – like lighting a candle and dimming the lights - only more awesome. You can choose ‘relaxing blue’, ‘refreshing green’ or ‘pulsing red’ and adjust …

The tourist industry in Cascais has had a great time recently. This gorgeous medieval village boasts a fine location that has long been used as a getaway for the rich and famous. The top real estate here is the old aristocratic mansions that lie on rocky outcrops, high above the …