Courtesy of Dolder Grand Hotel
The boutique-hotel era may have put the emphasis more on interiors, but architects are again making their mark on hotel design.
Architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Ricardo Legorreta were once indelibly connected with the most important hotel projects of their day (the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, the Camino Real in Mexico City). Though the boutique-hotel era put the emphasis more on interiors, architects are again making their mark on hotel design.
Dolder Grand in Zürich, Switzerland, by Foster & Partners.
Foster gave the 19th-century Dolder Grand a high-tech makeover that took four years and cost a cool $427 million. A pair of curving glass-and-steel wings, with balcony railings filigreed with the silhouettes of trees, now wrap around and behind the original hotel, which Foster also renovated. 65 Kurhausstrasse; 41-44/456-6000; thedoldergrand.com; doubles from $811.
Park Hyatt Shanghai, by Kohn Pedersen Fox.
The hotel, which opens this month, occupies floors 79 to 93 of the 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center, and offers sweeping views of Shanghai’s Blade Runner–esque skyline. Spacious rooms have walk-in dressing areas, daybeds for in-room massage, and baths with traditional deep soaking tubs. 100 Century Ave., Pudong New Area; 800/233-1234 or 86-21/6888-1234; parkhyatt.com; doubles from $524.
St. Regis Mexico City, by Cesar Pelli & Associates.
Pelli designed the 31-story Torre Libertad on leafy Reforma boulevard, where St. Regis’s newest hotel-and-condo property opens in January. With bold colors and a nod to traditional Mexican craftsmanship, Toronto designers Yabu Pushelberg have created 189 rooms and apartments, which fill the tower’s top 14 floors. 439 Paseo de la Reforma; 877/787-3447 or 52-55/ 5242-4052; stregis.com; doubles from $450.
