The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who seek them
Hotels
Tokyo Imperial Hotel
Sep 5th
If a building, so admired that its parts are reassembled after being pulled down and removed from its site, is not iconic, then what is? Demolished in 1968, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo by Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the few works located in Japan of the talented and controversially eccentric US architect.
Wright worked for this project beyond his usual style to produce a rich, playful, yet disciplined space that had many references to the architecture of Japan. Wright’s design was a redevelopment of the pre-existing and original wooden, Victorian, ultra-luxurious Imperial Hotel, founded in 1890, only a stone’s throw away from the emperor’s palace. More >
Gellert Hotel and Baths – Budapest, Hungary
Aug 31st
The Gellert Hotel and Baths face Liberty Bridge at the foot of Gellerthegy Hill in Buda. Saint Gellert was pushed from the hill and martyred by heathen Magyars. The hill has long been known for its thermal springs, which are used in the local tradition of spa baths, dating from Ottoman Turkish times.
Budapest is a city of spas and the Gellert Hotel and Baths is by far the grandest. Thirteen springs feed thermal pools inside elaborately decorate spa baths built in the Magyaros National Romantic style of Odon Lechner, who influenced a generation of Hungarian architects. More >
Hotel Habita – Mexico City
Aug 23rd
The architects at Taller Enrique Norten Arquitectos (TEN) are internationally renowned for their artful renovations that concentrate on the manipulation of the skin of a structure to breathe new life into unremarkable constructions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Hotel Habita, the first boutique hotel in Mexico City but formerly an ugly brick and concrete five-storey 1950s apartment block.
TEN wrapped the original facade in a glowing green carapace of frosted and translucent glass. The outer glazed wall is composed of a series of rectangular panels, attached by stainless-steel fittings, screening the old balconies and new circulation. More >
Burj al-Arab – Dubai, UAE
Aug 8th
The Burj al-Arab is recognized around the world as the beacon of the wondrous city of Dubai, similar in status to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Opera House in Sydney. It is a symbol of the economic boom and the decampment into the future of Dubai. At 321 metres high, it is often referred to as the tallest hotel in the world and the first to virtually achieve the service equivalent of seven stars.
Designed by Tom Wills Wright to be outstanding in every aspect, it was built to resemble the billowing sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian boat on an artificial island of the beach. Two ‘wings’ arranged in a V-shape form a vast ‘mast’, whereas the space between them houses a massive atrium, 180 metres tall. Surprisingly, this allows for a small, albeit tall, lobby space around an impressive cascading water feature flanked by omnipresent, high-end boutiques and restaurants. More >
Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel – Alberta
Jul 28th
Everything in Canada is vast, and the string of super-size hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railways to boost tourism along its Rocky Mountain railway fits in with that enormous scale. The railway was completed in 1885, and a mere three years later on June 1, 1888, the grandest of the grandiose faux Scottish baronial castle-style hotels opened its doors. With 250 rooms and a rotunda it was the largest hotel at the time.
Today, the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and spas trebled the number of its rooms; it can accommodate up to 1,700 guests, who can often hear the strains of live bagpipe music. If you balk at the C$900 room fee, you can take a guided tour instead. The hotel, which is massive, can feel like a giant terminus. It is a touch old-fashioned today, but the edifice still stands proud like an alpha-male stag amid the aspen, beneath the shadows of spectacular massifs at the convergence of the Bow and Spray Rivers. More >
