Goya, a Thai tower in Phang Nga, offers more than meets the eye. At first glance, it is a flurry of sunset-coloured towers that cascade towards the sky, stopping at different heights. This alone is enough to grab a passerby’s attention, yet its material make-up is what is truly striking: elephant dung.

Explore a Thai tower made from elephant waste

Humans’ use of animal dung to build is nothing new – it dates back millennia to the dawn of animal domestication – but here’s a contemporary take. Architect and artist Boonserm Premthada (his acclaimed Elephant World project won Best Sanctuary in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2021) began the project by looking at what elephants left behind – their waste comprises grass, leaves, and fruit. Elephant dung has been used to make paper, fertiliser, insect repellent, and even coffee (undigested coffee beans that have passed through the elephant’s system make for a smooth flavour, apparently – the resulting Black Ivory Coffee is the world's rarest and most expensive).

Turning the animal’s waste into bricks allows it to be more than a construction material; it becomes a symbolic nod to the connections between animal, earth, human, and architecture. Each elephant-dung brick is handmade, baked in sunlight, and measures 33cm in diameter and 5cm in thickness. The tower took a year to complete.

The bricks are produced in five colours, mimicking the pattern of a Rocket Lolly. They're then threaded onto a central steel rod and stacked to create a pattern. Upon entry, visitors can climb the stairs and see the cylindrical columns rise around them as they venture through the curved walkways, getting views of the landscape beyond.

The tower's context is central to the project. In southern Thailand, elephants and people have lived alongside one another, shaping the forests and settlements. Today, elephants remain deeply embedded in the identity of places such as Phang Nga. In the heart of the region is a limestone mountain, shaped like a reclining elephant. Titled Khao Chang (or Elephant Mountain), it’s where, according to local legend, a male elephant fell and turned to stone.

A new local landmark rooted in elephant lore and heritage, Goya Tower is named after a female elephant born in the area, and stands at the entrance to Matalay, an extensive resort project there.

Goya offers a beautiful, contemporary example of how buildings can be created to be deeply in tune with the people, environment, and community in an architectural circle of life.

boonserm_premthada.com

The Bangkok-based American designer Bill Bensley and his husband, landscaper Jirachai Rengthong, have been building their private weekend retreat in the Mae Rim valley north of Chiang Mai for the better part of two decades – layering rooms, gardens, art collections and a suspension bridge over a river into something that defies straightforward description. Hacienda Botanica is sixteen hectares of Northern Thailand wrapped in a Mexican aesthetic: thick terracotta walls, shaded courtyards, casitas scattered across grounds of remarkable botanical richness. It has never been available to anyone except its owners and their guests. That’s now changed as luxury travel company Smiling Albino has begun offering the estate as an exclusive buyout. Eleven bedrooms, one valley, no other guests.

Wallpaper* checks in at Hacienda Botanica, Chiang Mai

What’s on your doorstep?

Mae Rim sits in a valley less than an hour’s drive north of Chiang Mai, where the mountains loom large over a tropical pastoral landscape. Step outside in the morning, and the peaks are still half in cloud, the air cool enough to want a jacket, the Mae Rim River running west below the estate’s private suspension bridge. Cross it, and you are in a different world – rice paddies worked by the same families for generations, bamboo groves, lychee orchards. Within easy reach: local Thai temples, a vegetable market, and the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, set into the foothills and revealing itself slowly through glasshouses of orchids and ferns, and a long canopy walkway suspended among the trees.

Who is behind the design?

Bensley has spent four decades making extraordinary places for other people. Hacienda Botanica, he says, is what happens when nobody is looking over his shoulder – no client brief, no budget committee, no ROI benchmarks. The aesthetic language is unapologetically Mexican: thick terracotta walls, covered walkways, shaded courtyards, objects gathered from across thirty countries. An unexpected choice for Northern Thailand, at first blush, but the reasoning is climatic as much as cultural – deep shade and thermal mass work in the tropics regardless of longitude.

Besides, as Bensley notes, ‘One should always design for the sun.’ The interiors are dense with a Hispanic art collection that is ‘eclectic, personal, and not especially interested in behaving like a museum.’ Head gardener Ouant, who spent thirty years at Four Seasons Chiang Mai, tends grounds that are laid out like a paradise lost: endemic bulbs that erupt from the soil during the monsoon with leaves two metres high, fruit trees, and a riot of ornamental beds.

The room to book

Eleven bedrooms sprawl out among the main house, casitas and villas – no two spaces are quite the same. Since Hacienda Botanica operates exclusively as a buyout, the real question is which room to wake up in first. Guests have the run of the estate and can drift between casitas as mood and light dictate.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

The estate is fully catered. Smiling Albino works with guests ahead of arrival to develop bespoke menus so that eating in is not a consolation prize but the point, with meals scaled to the group and the evening, served in a house built for exactly this kind of unrushed indulgence.

Where to switch off

Bensley says his ideal day begins early: across the suspension bridge and into the mountains before the valley heats up, back by noon when the pool becomes ‘dangerously persuasive’. The monsoon months are his preferred season, where mornings are around 22 degrees, and cool enough to walk properly. The west side, he adds, is the whole story. ‘All of the casitas look towards the mountains, the river, and the sunset, so the property has a natural orientation. Even though it is a large estate, it is quite easy to navigate because the mountains keep reminding you where you are.’ For those who prefer not to walk, horses from a neighbouring stable, river rafts, and the profusion of gardens offer their own version of total immersion.

The verdict

Most designers’ homes become legends told secondhand. Hacienda Botanica is the rare exception: a fully inhabited, still-evolving personal estate that guests can actually sleep inside. ‘All my professional life, I have eaten, breathed, and lived the making of hotel-like environments that people seem to enjoy,’ Bensley says. ‘So sharing this weekend house feels quite natural. It is personal, yes, but hospitality is personal when it is any good. I have never believed that a house becomes less intimate because it is shared. If anything, a good house improves when people are using it properly.’

Hacienda Botanica, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Bookings via Smiling Albino. Exclusive buyout only

‘This project was quite unusual,’ says Dario Reicherl, CEO of Asia at Fritz Hansen, of the brand's latest project in the region: a new rooftop bar in Bangkok furnished with more than 100 Fritz Hansen pieces. ‘The owner, Turk Sitthan, came in with a very strong vision. He has a genuine passion for iconic Fritz Hansen designs and was clear that the space should be built around the furniture, not the other way around. His thinking was simple: the chair is where guests spend most of their time, so the chair comes first, and the architecture follows.’

It was Arne Jacobsen's ‘Swan’ and ‘Egg’ chairs, specifically, more often associated with hotel lobbies and corporate interiors, that Sitthan used as his starting point.

‘Arne Jacobsen originally designed the “Swan” and “Egg” for public use, for people to sit, stay and interact. In a hospitality context, they make even more sense. They offer comfort, privacy and a sense of occasion at the same time,’ explains Reicherl. ‘In a bar setting, they naturally slow people down, invite longer stays, and create an atmosphere where guests feel both relaxed and slightly elevated. That balance between intimacy and openness is exactly what you want in a space like this.’

Set across 1,200 sq m on the 42nd floor of Dusit Central Park office tower in the city’s Silom/Bang Rak district, The Norm inhabits a golden-toned interior by EKAR Architects, designed to encourage guests to linger over leisurely cocktails. On entry, the eye is drawn upwards to the ceiling, where large inverted-gable light tunnels, made from warm-toned timber, rise overhead.

Throughout, the bar plays with different scales: intimate indoor areas, relaxed sheltered outdoor spaces, and open terraces for more social gatherings – each with its own cocktail menu designed to enhance these distinct moods. Variations in height, enclosure and openness nod to Frank Lloyd Wright’s principles of compression and release, and as guests move through the interior towards the terrace, a dramatic skyline panorama gradually reveals itself.

The palette, Reicherl tells us, was driven by warmth and restraint, with materials chosen for tactility and their ability to age gracefully. ‘From the outset, Turk Sitthan wanted to create a welcoming, intimate mood, and the extensive use of timber was a key part of that vision,’ he says. ‘Building on this, we selected leather colours that would naturally complement the wood and reinforce that sense of warmth, rather than contrast against it. The intention was to enhance the iconic shapes without competing with them, using tones that feel enduring rather than trend-led.’

With the bar having formally opened in February 2026, the team notes how the furniture subtly choreographs behaviour, with high-backed chairs like the ‘Egg’ creating moments of retreat and privacy, while more open seating encourages interaction and movement. ‘The layout guides guests without signage or instruction – people instinctively understand where to linger, where to gather, and where to pass through,’ says Reicherl. ‘This is particularly interesting in a city like Bangkok, which is famous for rooftop bars that are largely outdoor, with indoor areas typically designed only for transit. The Norm is quite different. Even though it sits on the 42nd floor, it was conceived as an interior-led experience – a place where guests are encouraged to settle in and stay.’

'At this scale, furniture becomes essential,' Reicherl adds. 'Not as decoration, but as a way of supporting behaviour – people staying longer, talking more, feeling at ease. At The Norm, architecture and design work together to make that possible.'

The new year brings travel into focus. While the months ahead may herald anticipated openings, 2025 has already delivered a series of assured arrivals – hotels led by design, intent and context. From Taipei’s first luxury opening in over a decade to the long-awaited Chancery Rosewood, and a Saudi resort carved into the landscape itself, these projects stand apart. Each has a singular character, and each is worth the journey.

The best hotel openings of 2025

Capella Taipei

Long-awaited in the Taiwanese capital, Capella Taipei marked the city’s first true luxury hotel debut in over a decade. Conceived by André Fu, the hotel occupies part of a newly built glass tower by Tokyo’s Mori Building Group, unfolding as a modern urban mansion shaped by the Hong Kong-born designer’s own encounters with Taipei. The 86-room property sits in a calm, subtle palette, where bespoke fixtures and artisanal details form a sophisticated urban bolthole. Four on-site restaurants sharpen the hotel’s profile, while the dramatic Glasshouse crowns the ensemble with a three-storey bar complex. A minimalist spa, finished with beige barrel-vaulted ceilings, completes the picture with celestial, lunar-led treatments.

Capella Taipei is located at No. 139, DunHua N Rd, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105

Read our full review of Capella Taipei

The Chancery Rosewood

Once Eero Saarinen’s modernist vision of American diplomacy, the former US Embassy on Grosvenor Square re-emerged this year as The Chancery Rosewood. A sensitive restoration saw British architect Sir David Chipperfield and French interior designer Joseph Dirand recast the Grade II-listed landmark as an all-suite hotel defined by Rosewood’s high-touch hospitality. Across 144 suites, softened geometries, tactile layering, and a palette of neutrals and burnished tones create a cocooning sense of calm; a language echoed through all public spaces and the Asaya Spa. Eight restaurants and bars introduce their own unhurried atmospheres, including the first European outpost of New York institution Carbone and Japanese chef Masa Takayama’s Tobi Masa. Meanwhile, the seventh-floor Eagle Bar opens onto panoramic views across London.

The Chancery Rosewood is located at 30 Grosvenor Sq, London W1K 9AN, UK

Read our full review of The Chancery Rosewood

Desert Rock Resort

Set within Saudi Arabia’s dramatic Hejaz mountains, Desert Rock Resort rises directly from millennia-old granite. Fifty-four villas and ten suites feel almost geological. Conceived by Oppenheim Architecture, the resort doesn’t impose itself on the terrain; it yields to it. Stone quarried during construction was folded back into the architecture. Studio Paolo Ferrari brought the same reverence to the interiors, allowing the raw power of the setting to remain the focal point. Dining unfolds across Nyra’s elemental wood-fire kitchen, Mica’s forward-thinking cocktail programme, Basalt’s reassuring comfort dishes, and Wadi’s lively poolside scene. On the valley’s far edge sits the spa, built against a towering rock face.

Desert Rock Resort is located at 7GQVP67Q+5P 48561, Saudi Arabia

Read our full review of Desert Rock Resort

The Eve Hotel Sydney

The Eve Hotel Sydney arrived as a vibrant new marker on the cusp of the Central Business District. Designed as a warm brick-and-biophilic low-rise by local firm SJB, with landscape architect Daniel Baffsky and interior designer George Livissianis, the hotel balances architectural restraint with bursts of colour. The 102 rooms, hued to the Australian bush, each feature balconies overlooking shingled rooftops and greenery. On the food front, guests can choose between Bar Julius, a European-inflected lobby bar, and Lottie, the rooftop Mexican restaurant and mezcaleria. Also upstairs, the Sukabumi-tiled rooftop pool beckons, though the surrounding mix of native and exotic flora demands equal attention.

The Eve Hotel Sydney is located at 8 Baptist St, Redfern NSW 2016, Australia

Read our full review of The Eve Hotel Sydney

Few & Far Luvhondo

Husband-and-wife adventurers Jacob and Sarah Dusek introduced Few & Far Luvhondo, a safari eco-lodge offering front-row access to the raw wilderness of South Africa’s Limpopo province. Designed by Nicholas Plewman Architects in collaboration with Ohkre Collective, the lodge’s six cliff-edge suites take their sculptural cues from Africa’s most emblematic trees, notably the monumental baobabs that anchor the surrounding landscape. Nature continues indoors, where clay-toned earths, sky blues and deep greens echo the terrain. In the kitchen, chef Nhlakanipho Soxhela leads a thoughtful farm-to-table programme celebrating regional cooking. Days unfold through immersive encounters with land and culture, from daily game drives to outdoor yoga sessions or guided mindfulness practices.

Few & Far Luvhondo is located at R523, Waterpoort, 3813, South Africa

Read our full review of Few & Far Luvhondo

La Fondation

Once a parking lot, La Fondation emerged as a brutalist shell softened by warm hues and muted tones that ripple through its ten floors. Paris-based architecture firm PCA-STREAM reimagined the exterior, while New York studio Roman and Williams infused the interiors with a modern, eclectic character, accented by nods to Piet Mondrian’s De Stijl palette and geometry. Muted tones and artisanal detailing define the 58 guest rooms, and two on-site dining venues offer a mix of French classics and contemporary dishes overseen by chef Thomas Rossi. The latest opening from Groupe Galia also introduces open co-working areas, a health club with a climbing wall, a spa with a semi-Olympic pool, and a rooftop garden with views from Sacré-Cœur to the Eiffel Tower.

La Fondation is located at 40 Rue Legendre, 75017 Paris, France

Read our full review of La Fondation

Patina Osaka

With the Osaka Expo pulling global focus, Patina Osaka debuted at just the right moment. Set in a 20-storey glass tower by Jun Mitsui & Associates Inc. Architects, the property, which marked the Japan debut for the Singapore-based group, sits between the Osaka Castle and Naniwa-no-Miya-Ato Park. Tokyo-based studio Strickland shaped the interiors with crisp Japanese geometries, softened by sculptural curves and copper accents that nod to the castle. Five dining concepts anchor the hotel, fronted by P72, where Japan’s 72 micro-seasons inform dishes served beneath a dramatic timber ‘roots’ installation. The Patina Spa is the real draw, offering hyperbaric oxygen, cryotherapy and holistic treatments for a full-spectrum reset.

Patina Osaka is located at 3-91, Banba-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka, 540-0007, Japan

Read our full review of Patina Osaka

The Standard, Pattaya Na Jomtien

A ten-building beach resort with plenty of swagger became The Standard’s fourth outpost in Thailand, pairing luxury with the brand’s trademark wit and creative flair. Led by the group’s global head of design, Verena Haller, alongside DIN Studio and Studio Lupine, The Standard Pattaya Na Jomtien occupies a sculptural white complex by Thai firm Onion, whose undulating curves echo their work for The Standard Bangkok and Hua Hin. Its 161 rooms, offered in seven generous configurations, feature high ceilings and sunlight-drenched spaces. Dining spans Sereia, an elegant seafood restaurant sourcing from Thailand’s eastern seaboard, and Esmé, a beach bar channelling CDMX street food. The adults-only spa, Mmhmmm, embraces the mud-bathing renaissance with a dedicated outdoor terrace for the ritual.

The Standard, Pattaya Na Jomtien is located at 8/12 Moo 2, Soi Na Jomtien 10, Na Jomtien, Sattahip, Chonburi 20250, Thailand

Read our full review of The Standard, Pattaya Na Jomtien

Villa Dubrovnik

Long a friend of Wallpaper,* Brazilian architect Arthur Casas and his studio led the reimagining of Villa Dubrovnik, the 1961 modernist landmark perched dramatically above the Dalmatian coast. Guided by the Croatian philosophy of fjaka –an artful devotion to unhurried living – the interiors are measured and serene, grounded in local tradition. Custom blankets and cushions, woven with patterns drawn from regional dialects, thread a quiet sense of place through all 56 rooms. Dining unfolds across moods: Restaurant Pjerin for refined dégustation or à la carte dining, Giardino for relaxed lunches, and aperitivo-worthy views at Libero Bar or the rooftop Galanto Bar. When the Adriatic sun takes its toll, the spa delivers restorative facials, massages, and exfoliating rituals.

Villa Dubrovnik is located at Ul. Vlaha Bukovca 6, 20000, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Read our full review of Villa Dubrovnik

W New York – Union Square

W Hotels’ evolution trades party-first theatrics for grown-up confidence, without losing its spark. The shift is clearest at W New York – Union Square, the global flagship, alongside newer openings in Florence and Budapest. Opened in 2000, the hotel has been reimagined by original architects Rockwell Group with a lighter, more assured hand. Its 256 rooms and suites balance scale with playfulness. On the food front, Seahorse pairs heritage and modernity with unmistakable New York ease; the high-energy Living Room (once a ballroom) serves cocktails and light bites, flowing into the laid-back Living Room Café; and upstairs, the 17th floor is home to Union Square’s only rooftop bar.

W New York – Union Square is located at 1567 Broadway, New York, NY 10036, United States

Read our full review of W New York – Union Square

When the LA-based Thai architect Kulapat Yantrasast first toured the 1980s warehouse that would become Thailand’s first international contemporary art museum, he was struck by how unremarkable it was. ‘It was just a long concrete structure,’ he recalls. ‘There was nothing particularly unique about it.’

But his client, Purat ‘Chang’ Osathanugrah saw something else. Once part of Bangkok’s industrial backbone, the building sits near the city’s largest port, between the Rama IV and Sukhumvit 40 arterial roads. What makes Bangkok endlessly fascinating, Osathanugrah says, ‘is its layering of the old and the new – the hustle and bustle, the tuk-tuks and street vendors weaving between gleaming towers and quiet temples. We love that mix of grit and grace [of the old warehouse]: the raw structure paired with nostalgic Thai-Chinese window frames, all set against the backdrop of Bangkok’s largest port.’

Step inside Dib Bangkok, Thailand’s first international contemporary art museum

The brief called for spaces that merge state-of-the-art climate control and lighting while remaining flexible enough to rotate the museum’s collection of more than 1,000 works – essentially, an homage to the collecting legacy of Osathanugrah’s late father Petch. The museum’s name, Dib Bangkok, derives from the Thai word for ‘raw’ or ‘natural, authentic state’, though Yantrasast suggests it might even mean, in the context of the museum, ‘unfinished’ or ‘ongoing’.

Yantrasast, who founded Why Architecture in 2003 after studying under Tadao Ando, has spent the past two decades designing for blue-chip institutions, including the Louvre. He approached the project with what he calls ‘acupuncture architecture’, which involves healing a place rather than overwhelming it. The result is his first major public commission in his home country. The transformation of an antique building into a sleek 21st-century silhouette involved stripping the warehouse down to its rational structure, preserving those Thai-Chinese grilles, and building upward in a progression that mirrors the journey toward enlightenment in Buddhist philosophy.

The new structure delivers 7,000 sq m of gallery space across three floors. The vertical choreography begins with austere concrete at the ground floor, which is anchored by a 1,400 sq m courtyard. Designed with the schematic precision of Kyoto’s Ryoanji Temple rock garden, it currently hosts Alicja Kwade’s Pars pro Toto – 11 large stone globes that, as Yantrasast observes, ‘perfectly ignite this sense of tension and proportion’.

A long reflection pool bisected by a driveway slows visitors as they transition from Bangkok’s frenetic streets. ‘Bangkok is sometimes referred to as the Venice of the East, so this pool is a reflection of our closeness to water in our lives, as well as a way to harvest water for reuse,’ says Yantrasast. The tranquil courtyard is one of Osathanugrah’s favourite spaces, ‘where everything meets: light, air, memory and reflection. It feels like the museum’s heart.’

The second floor is about intimacy. Here, Miwako Tezuka, the museum’s inaugural director, has created what she describes as ‘a maze-like visitor journey, where each turn or enclosed black-box space reveals a new work encountered up close’. The adjoining balcony offers an unexpected sightline into the Chapel, a conical gallery clad in porcelain mosaic tiles. From every angle, it is the project’s boldest intervention, its off-kilter diagonal form contrasting with the original warehouse’s horizontal lines, while abstractly referencing Thai pagodas.

The tiles reimagine traditional Thai temple ornamentation, though the precision required multiple rounds of craftsmanship. Bangkok’s harsh sun, meanwhile, needed careful management. ‘We want to make sure the light is stable. Not unsafe for the artworks below,’ notes Yantrasast. Which explains why the galleries on the third floor are awash with diffused northern light streaming in through the sawtooth skylights.

Like the museum’s physical transformation, Tezuka’s curatorial vision is based on a sense of continuous evolution. ‘Dib Bangkok becomes a living organism, continuously evolving and creating its own history,’ she says. The inaugural exhibition, ‘(In)visible Presence’, opens on 21 December 2025, when visitors will encounter 80 works by 40 artists, including Somboon Hormtientong and Montien Boonma, large-scale sculptures by Lee Bul and Anselm Kiefer, and paintings by Alex Katz, Yuree Kensaku and Jessie Homer French. On the upper terrace, Pinaree Sanpitak’s Breast Stupa Topiary, a series of stainless-steel sculptures, offers a meditation on femininity and spirituality.

For Yantrasast, this project carries personal weight. Most of his portfolio – which includes the revamped Michael C Rockefeller Wing in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Harvard Art Museums – sits far from Thailand. ‘I am most joyful as my parents are so excited that they have a place to go to when they miss me, since most of my works are in foreign countries.’ After two decades spent designing museums overseas, Dib Bangkok is not just Yantrasast’s first major public project in Thailand; it is, on every metric, a long-overdue homecoming.

why-site.com

dibbangkok.org

This article appears in the January 2026 Next Generation issue of Wallpaper* , available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 4 December 2025. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Since its 1999 inception in LA, boutique-hotel mega brand The Standard has become renowned for retro, midcentury-modern-inspired interiors, edgy parties and bold architectural moves. Its expansion into Southeast Asia is relatively recent, with five openings in the past five years. The fourth in Thailand, The Standard Pattaya Na Jomtien, opens its doors as a luxury beach resort of ten buildings, oozing sass, humour and creative flair, with signature details at every turn. Featuring a beach club, Esmé, a fine dining outfit, Sereia, and an adults-only spa – named Mmhmmm – it’s a stay that begs full immersion.

Wallpaper* checks in at The Standard, Pattaya Na Jomtien

What’s on your doorstep?

Sprawling silvery sands are the USP at The Standard Pattaya Na Jomtien, and here a distinction must be made: Na Jomtien is the tree-lined, breezy suburb of coastal metropolis Pattaya, which can be spied in the distance over the waves. Opting to locate in the vicinity of a city with a somewhat unsavoury reputation (Pattaya is known for crime and corruption issues) might seem like a maverick move, but if anyone can make an address desirable, it’s The Standard, and Na Jomtien currently has everything to play for.

General manager Jason Macleod explains, ‘We want to redefine the image of the area. Na Jomtien is hip, up-and-coming and spacious, with an electric energy, and there really isn’t any competition yet. We’re the new kids on the block.’ Given that the brand is so well loved by Bangkokians (the capital is just a 1.5-hour drive away), a South Pattaya metamorphosis feels imminent.

Who’s behind the design?

Steered by the chain’s global head of design, Verena Haller, The Standard Pattaya Na Jomtien’s sophisticated white structure with undulating curves is by Onion, the Thai architecture firm also behind The Standard Bangkok and The Standard Hua Hin – the former nestled within German architect Ole Scheeren’s Mahanakhon tower. With Pattaya Na Jomtien, Onion has infused the complex and its four courtyards with a sense of modernist allure.

Between buildings, an architectural walkway, dubbed the S Curve, meanders through light and shadow, the effect as you walk through it changing throughout the day. In their design, including the rippling walls, the architects responded to the ocean. Say Siriyot Chaiamnuay and Arisara Chaktranon of Onion, ‘The moving shadows of skylit structures create ever-changing patterns and colours.’

The standout details

On arrival, guests encounter colourful art installations that contrast with the structure’s bright backdrop. Both the main and the VIP reception desks are backed by wide tapestries created by Yarn Studio, richly textured and in local tones, while the two abstract figures of French artist Chloé Kelly Miller’s Unity of the Double sculpture provide a welcome in the first courtyard. Interior design is conceived by Din Studio, its third collaboration with The Standard’s Thai outposts. From sleek furnishings to quirky light fittings, in the shape of lips, for example, and playful murals, the studio has adopted natural tones with occasional pops of bolshy colour. Perhaps most memorable on the design front are the staff uniforms by Vickteerut, a Bangkok fashion house under the creative direction of Aurapraphan ‘Pang’ Sudhinaraset, designed for ease in upbeat colours.

The room to book

With 161 rooms of seven different types, this is a subjective question. All categories come large, with high ceilings and wide spaces flooded with light, but it’s the Deluxe One Bedroom Suites to angle for. Among these, the Ocean View Pool Suites are perfect for voyeurs who like to see and be seen, with vistas across the suite's own pool towards the beach club in the near distance. Our favourite is the Deluxe One Bedroom Pool Suite, which comes with a high-walled backyard, meaning you can enjoy the room’s own pool and loungers in blissful privacy. Both types of suite have decadent bath tubs, outdoor showers and indoor rain room showers, as well as a bespoke Din Studio sofa to recline on.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

Elegant restaurant Sereia specialises in seafood, spotlighting ingredients from Thailand’s eastern seaboard, the regions of Chonburi, Chanthaburi and Rayong. Head of food Khun Matt supports local fishermen, the green lights of whose boats dot the horizon at night. He worked closely with chef Liew to develop tasting menus and à la carte options at Sereia, and the Mexican platters for beach bar Esmé, where elevated CDMX street food is served as sharing plates. Sereia’s centrepiece is a sweeping bar, a magenta island where mixologist Khun Tok leads the bar team; his tequila-based cocktail, Magenta Paloma, is as refreshing as it is colourful – pink, topped with lime green.

Where to switch off

The indulgent spa has embraced the mud bathing renaissance and allotted a terrace specifically to the ancient art. Four concoctions are on offer, the charcoal and tea tree oil-rich ‘Purify’, a dark grey paste, is our favourite. Once you've selected the mud, it's a DIY affair to ‘paint yourself pure’, lathering up in richly scented goop, then reclining on a lounger in the mud terrace. The spa also has ice baths for guided sessions with therapists, who time the chilly dunks that, for the brave, promise euphoria afterwards. The oatmeal body scrub also deserves an honourable mention for being the finest-smelling exfoliant in the kingdom.

The verdict

This is the largest branch of The Standard in Thailand, and once you've checked in, it’s a resort at which to park yourself, with everything needed on site – from the zen spa treatments to tacos and margaritas at the beach bar. It’s also undeniably a hotel for music lovers as much as beach fans, and being such a short drive from Bangkok, it's the perfect sanctuary from city life. As I checked out, I was already discussing my next visit – and how to get my hands on tailoring by Vickteerut.

The Standard, Pattaya Na Jomtien is located at Thailand, Chon Buri, Sattahip District, Tambon Na Chom Thian, Soi Na Jomtien 10 8.

The awards keep coming: UN Global Climate Action Awards; BBC100 Women; The Bloomberg Green 30. But for Kotchakorn Voraakhom, the real measure of success isn't the recognition, but whether Bangkok will still be above water in 50 years. As founder of Bangkok-based Landprocess, the Thai landscape architect has made it her mission to transform one of the world's most flood-prone cities – Bangkok is sinking 2cm each year while sea levels rise, making every monsoon season more dangerous – into a model of climate resilience. The broader mission is to help ‘shift cities to a carbon-neutral future and confront the future climate uncertainty’, she explains from her studio, where 15 designers work on what many might consider impossible urban challenges.

Meet Kotchakorn Voraakhom, the Thai force in landscape architecture

Since founding Landprocess in 2012, Voraakhom has pioneered a nature-based approach using living plants as infrastructure. ‘Nature is our medium, our process, and our teacher – humans included,’ Voraakhom says. ‘We are inspired by its systems, where nothing is wasted, where beauty emerges not from form alone, but from function.'

A good example is Chulalongkorn Centenary Park, completed in 2017 as Bangkok's first critical green infrastructure project. Where others saw an underused urban plot, Voraakhom envisioned wetlands, detention lawns, and biodiverse plantings that collect, clean, and reuse a million gallons of rainwater while providing public recreation space.

Then there's the Thammasat Urban Farm, completed in late 2019 as Asia's largest organic rooftop farm. The 22,000 sq m terraced green roof mimics traditional rice paddies, using cascading native plants and vegetables to slow run-off 20 times more efficiently than concrete while producing 20 tons of organic food annually. Her current work spans training government teams across Southeast Asia on flood-resilient plantings and water management, sharing techniques developed through projects such as Chulalongkorn's constructed wetlands and the Thammasat farm's soil-holding root systems.

Voraakhom’s most ambitious current project reimagines Thailand's Government Complex in Bangkok’s Lak Si district. Rather than adding conventional landscaping to the existing 178 acres, Voraakhom is inserting biodiverse green corridors, rooftop gardens with native species, and cooling plant systems that naturally regulate building temperatures for the 40,000 workers. ‘Government buildings worldwide often reflect authority rather than accessibility,’ she observes. ‘But what if civic architecture could embody transparency, sustainability, and human connection instead?’

The koan comes from hard-won experience, each project teaching Voraakhom that beautiful parks filled with ornamental plants aren't enough if larger systems remain broken. The most exciting shift for her, though, is moving beyond traditional design to co-create transformative processes where communities, policymakers, and ecosystems all shape the outcome. If nothing else, she’s learnt that lasting change requires bringing together people who don't usually collaborate: bureaucrats and community leaders, engineers and botanists, residents and officials.

Which is why, in 2017, Voraakhom launched Porous City Network, a social enterprise led by landscape architects and urban planners to mobilise communities – especially youth – around plant-based climate solutions to transform vast concrete wastelands into a city-wide web of permeable public green spaces such as urban farms, green roofs, rain gardens and canals filled with water-absorbing plants. Landprocess creates the built projects, she explains, while Porous City empowers. ‘Landscape architecture has never been more critical,’ Voraakhom argues. ‘Our discipline holds vital solutions for the climate crisis, but the key lies in collaboration.’

The future, as Voraakhom sees it, demands breaking silos and reimagining the designer's role – not as solitary problem-solver, but as orchestrator of change. In Bangkok, where rising waters threaten the very existence of the city, that change is happening one plant-filled park, one food-producing rooftop, one government complex at a time.

Thirty-seven years after opening its first property in Phuket, Aman has returned to Thailand with an urban outpost that feels both familiar and fresh. Occupying a new 36-storey tower, Aman Nai Lert Bangkok’s sprawling leafy grounds command particular significance as they occupy the city’s last privately owned park, established in the early 1900s when the eponymous Nai Lert, an ice importer-turned-transportation magnate, transformed rice fields next to the British embassy into his private estate.

Check into the latest city retreat from Aman Resorts

Three generations later, his descendants have converted the old tennis courts into a millennial pasha’s pleasure dome, creating a rare urban sanctuary amid the chaotic sprawl. With just 52 suites and 34 residences, Aman Nai Lert maintains the brand’s signature restraint in scale. Suites begin at 92 sq m, with long-time Aman collaborator Jean-Michel Gathy translating key architectural elements of Nai Lert’s home into contemporary luxury. The hotel’s triple-layered ceilings and porte-cochère, for instance, echo the 1915 structure’s distinctive roofline, as do the narrow-planked flooring patterns and teak accents that feature in both the suites and public spaces.

In a city stuffed with luxury hotels, what separates Aman Nai Lert from the pack is its exacting attention to detail throughout. Panels, crafted in buffalo leather by Chiang Mai artisans, evoke Thai shadow puppetry, while teak boat motifs adorn the outdoor pool deck. The Aman Suite, set across an entire floor, features a coconut-shell wall installation outlining, in gold, the skyline of the ancient city of Ayutthaya, as well as moveable animal-print screens inspired by a bronze statue of the Lert family’s pet leopard.

The art programme, curated by Martin Gerlier, also creates a cohesive narrative linking the historic and the current, with a swathe of pieces by 80 local artisans. The lobby wall, featuring 3,000 white ceramic spinning tops arranged to form the Thai numeral one (a reference to the hotel’s address), speaks to both craft and symbolism, while a 12m-high ebony and gold sculpture, honouring the century-old chamchuri tree that anchors the property, demands attention as it rises through a triple volumed atrium.

The dining portfolio suggests serious intent. Italian restaurant Arva occupies the ninth floor alongside 1872, a lounge furnished with low-slung furniture and named for Nai Lert’s birth year. The 19th-floor Aman Club introduces two Japanese restaurants: Sesui’s intimate sushi omakase experience and Hiori’s theatrical teppanyaki offering, both a subtle nod to Nai Lert’s daughter, who developed a deep appreciation for Japanese aesthetics during her years spent attending college in Tokyo. The two venues also demonstrate a firm commitment to craft by producing their own miso and soy sauce.

The 1,500 sq m wellness centre seamlessly combines traditional Thai treatments – such as an addictive oil compress massage using a hot clay pot filled with lemongrass, ginger and kaffir lime – alongside medical offerings of cryotherapy and IV vitamin drips. There’s also a pet-friendly floor (the 11th, honouring Eleven, the Lert family’s favourite dog – there were so many, they were numbered rather than named). Service, meanwhile, maintains that trademark Aman invisibility as staff move with discretion, appearing precisely when needed, then dissolving into the background.

In a city that teeters on the brink of overdevelopment, Aman Nai Lert stands as both a sanctuary and a statement. The property doesn’t merely preserve Bangkok’s last private park – it creates a dialogue between past and present that feels aptly resonant for a brand marking a long-overdue return to its Thai roots.

Aman Nai Lert Bangkok is located at 1 Soi Somkid, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

A version of this article appears in the July 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

From the Japanese Genmaicha dotted with popped brown rice to the time-consuming but deliciously foamy West African Ataya, the world of tea is truly full of wonders. And it’s certainly not stuck in time: today, a new generation is discovering the beauty of bright-green matcha and fragrant masala chai. For her latest book, 150 Tea Houses You Need to Visit Before You Die, writer and editor Léa Teuscher – a long-time Wallpaper* staffer – explores what’s brewing, whether it’s in a cool café in Istanbul, a historic tea plantation in Darjeeling, an elegant hotel in London or a beautiful Kyoto ochaya. Here she picks ten tea houses serving great drinks and homemade blends in elegant, often architect-designed spaces, around the world.

Ten contemporary tea houses to visit now

Basao Tea, Xiamen

Designed by Norm Architects, this beautiful minimalist space is the flagship tea room of Basao Tea, a brand established in 2011 in Xiamen, Fujian. It is named after a Japanese zen monk who once wrote: ‘Having learned the ways of silence, within the noise of urban life, I take life as it comes to me, and everywhere I am is true.’ Its pared-back space aims to help visitors enjoy quiet contemplation and the calming sounds of tea being prepared, poured and enjoyed. Sit at the large stone tea counter to take part in a Chinese gongfu tea ceremony, or learn about more contemporary ways of tea making, like Basao’s nitrogen-infused cold brews. The tea sommeliers can also guide you through the company’s collection, which ranges from hand-rolled Nepali tips to Hangzhou’s ‘dragon well’ tea. Basao also has branches in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Basao Tea is located at 8 Jianye RdSi Ming Qu, Xia Men Shi, Fu Jian Sheng, China; @basaotea

Bellocq Tea Atelier, New York

Bellocq is known for its single-estate full-leaf teas and signature botanical blends, as well as its famous yellow tea caddies now found in the tea rooms of some of the world’s leading brands, from Tiffany & Co to Cartier. Designed by co-founder Heidi Johannsen Stewart, and her husband, architect Scott Stewart, its studio and tea room is located in a brick warehouse in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, and celebrates the luxury of taking time to enjoy a fine cup of tea. Distilling inspiration from botanical traditions while embracing innovation, the brand focuses on sustainable production practices, sourcing teas from exceptional gardens that reflect the unique terroirs of China, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and South Africa. Bellocq’s Earl Grey, for example, is made with an exceptional base leaf and, uniquely, the essence of Sicilian bergamot extracted from the entire fruit.

Bellocq Tea Atelier is located at 104 West St, Brooklyn, NY 11222, United States; bellocqtea.com

Cafe Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm

Leading Swedish interiors brand Svenskt Tenn was founded in 1924 by Estrid Ericson, an entrepreneur and a great tea lover who is said to have drunk five cups of tea every day. Fittingly, the brand’s beautiful shop in central Stockholm is also home to a café serving a wide range of teas, with everything from delicate, grassy Japanese green teas and Indian Darjeeling, to its own flavoured blend of Chinese keemun/Yunnan. The teas were selected by chef Petter Nilsson’s team at Petri, a fine dining restaurant that is known for its focus on tea pairings, so expect some pretty special drinks here, such as rare jungle teas from the Monsoon Tea Wat Ket in Thailand and Dongfang meiren (‘Oriental beauty’) from Nantou County in Taiwan. These can be accompanied by dishes such as smoked salmon on French toast, or rhubarb cheesecake, canelés and chestnut tartlets.

Café Svenskt Tenn is located at Strandvägen 5, 114 51 Stockholm, Sweden; svenskttenn.com

Casa de Chá, Brasilia

Designed between 1965 and 1966 by legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer, the Casa de Chá was conceived as a meeting point on the monumental Three Powers Plaza, the site of the three branches of the Brazilian government. It is a unique spot with floor-to-ceiling windows hiding under a long flat white roof, in the great modernist architecture tradition. Inside, you will find classic pieces such as Jean Gillon armchairs and a menu by local chef Gil Guimarães. Drinks include Itamaraty Chai (black tea with star anise, cloves and pepper), a house maté, and the Congresso infusion, with hibiscus, apple, clove and cinnamon. We’d recommend sampling these with a slice of corn cake or, if really hungry, a Niemeyer tartine with Parma ham and umbu jelly. Refurbished in 2019 by Bloco Arquitetos, the café is actually part of the local university and a training ground for its hospitality students.

Casa de Chá is located at Praça dos Três Poderes Três Praça dos Três Poderes - Brasilia, DF, 70802-140, Brazil; @casadecha.df.senac.br

Ksana matcha, Bangkok

Located in cosmopolitan Pathum Wan, this cave-like specialist matcha tea room offers a unique haven of tranquillity away from chaotic central Bangkok. Sourced from Japanese heritage farms in Uji and leading tea estates in Shizuoka, the powdered green tea is served here on simple wooden tables in a cocooning white cave designed by local practice JUTI architects. Ksana matcha uses the finest-quality tea leaves to create four teas, including Coastal Breeze, with umami flavours that evoke the fresh serenity of a coastal morning, and Smoky Peaks, a hōjicha with a hint of hickory. Also on the menu are traditional Japanese wagashi sweets, such as yuzu and yokan jelly. Ksana has just opened an equally slick new outpost in the nearby Central World mall.

Ksana Matcha is located at 2nd Floor, One City Centre, Unit R2-02, 548 Phloen Chit Rd, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand; ksanamatcha.com

Osulloc Tea Museum, Jeju

Set on an organic tea farm on the island of Jeju in South Korea, this stylish tea room and museum designed by Seoul-based practice Mass Studies was set up by the South Korean brand Osulloc, which started growing tea here only in 1979, after painstakingly transforming the rocky land into tea fields. It has since won a string of prestigious prizes for its teas, including Illohyang, a first-flush green tea handpicked in early April, and Sejac, the brand’s signature green tea. You can try them at the museum’s teahouse, which also serves blended teas, such as Samdayeon Jeju Tangerine, and lots of pretty tea-flavoured treats, such as matcha tiramisu and Jeju green tea cheesecake. Osulloc also has teahouses in Seoul, including a flagship location in the Bukchon district.

Osulloc Tea Museum is located at 15 Sinhwayeoksa-ro, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea; us.osulloc.com

Oxi Tea Room, Melbourne

Known for its exquisitely detailed themed afternoon teas, this serene tea room in downtown Melbourne celebrates the tea terroirs of Kenya and Taiwan, the home countries of owners Mehboob and Andy. From Kenya come teas such as Nandi Gold, a fruity black tea with hints of roasted hazelnuts, while from Taiwan are sourced crisp Alishan and delicate dong ding oolongs. The 30 premium whole-leaf teas are paired with meticulously crafted menus, and an interactive app guides diners through a culinary journey, revealing the stories behind each dish. Designed by local practice Alta Architecture, Oxi Tea Room is well known for its themed afternoon teas, with past inspirations ranging from local honeys to artists such as Yayoi Kusama. All feature pastry chef Johnny Ping’s eye-catching creations, including surprising bites such as cheesecake with plum, blueberry and tofu.

Oxi Tea Room is located at T4/158 Victoria St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia; oxitea.com.au

Steep LA

Located in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, this teahouse, bar and eatery was co-founded by Samuel Wang and Lydia Lin, for whom tea is a family tradition. While Samuel grew up drinking oolong with his dad, Lydia’s favourite is pu-erh tea, which her family enjoys while eating dim sum. Their menu focuses on premium teas handpicked from China and Taiwan, which cover five out of six major Chinese tea categories: black, green, white, oolong and pu-erh – the latter including a refreshing Green Tangerine tea with notes of citrus and freshly cut grass. Come 5pm, Steep LA introduces its After Dark program, offering tea-infused cocktails such as Winter’s Whisper, with Jiaziyuan oolong tea. There is also a food menu with noodle bowls and snacks and a boutique selling pieces by local designers and craft makers.

Steep LA is located at 970 N Broadway #112, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States; steepla.com

Théhuone, Helsinki

As you’d expect for a boutique and tea room located in the Design District, the décor at Théhuone is pure Scandinavian minimalism. Tea is served in sleek white porcelain cups and transparent teapots, which are perfect to watch flowering teas unfurl. There’s only a handful of tables and a seating area with floor cushions by the window from which to enjoy a selection of over 400 teas, carefully selected by sisters Nina and Nea, who founded the tea room in 2005. Flavoured teas such as classic Earl Grey and cherry-flavoured Sencha Sakura are particularly popular here, as are rare pu-erh varieties from Yunnan and the finest oolong teas from Taiwan. In keeping with the pared-back décor by local studio Pure Design, which lets the teas do the talking, there is no food menu – but drinks do come with little biscuits, mochis or a piece of green tea chocolate on the side.

Théhuone is located at Eerikinkatu 10, 00100 Helsinki, Finland; thehuone.com

To Tsai, Athens

Owned by specialist Ceylon tea importer Mlesna, To Tsai opened its doors in 1993. Inspired by Japanese architecture, the sleek space by Georges Batzios Architects is divided into a boutique and a tea room, where tea is served in a variety of teapots (porcelain, cast iron or clay) depending on its origin. It’s a real treasure trove of hard-to-find teas, such as an organic orange pekoe, grown near Etseri in the mountains of Georgia, and mastic tea, a tea flavoured with natural mastic oil (a key Greek ingredient), from Dimbula, Sri Lanka. Another local favourite is mountain tea, or Sideritis scardica, grown on an organic farm on Mount Olympus – a delicious infusion with notes of mint, chamomile and citrus.

To Tsai is located at Al. Soutsou 19, Athens 106 71, Greece; tea.gr

When thinking of Mike White’s hit HBO series The White Lotus, two things immediately come to mind: Jennifer Coolidge – aka the fabulously unhinged Tanya McQuoid – delivering her now-iconic one-liners in that signature husky drawl, and the Four Seasons. Two seemingly unrelated things that, in true The White Lotus fashion, fit together perfectly in its darkly comedic, twisted world.

Though The White Lotus is a fictional luxury hospitality brand, audiences didn’t take long to recognise the real-life locations behind the drama after its premiere in 2021. Season one unfolded at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, where the pandemic closure granted the production team rare access to film across the entire property – an ideal setting for a story steeped in wealth and power dynamics.

Season two transported us to Four Seasons Taormina at San Domenico Palace, where the magnetism of a reimagined 14th-century Sicilian convent set the stage for a season fixated on desire and deception. As anticipation builds for chapter three, the show heads to the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui in Thailand, where the tropical setting and deep-rooted cultural influences will complement White’s next thematic pivot: a satirical exploration of death, Eastern spirituality, and religion.

What started as Four Seasons properties simply providing ethereal backdrops for the first two seasons of The White Lotus has since evolved into a strategic marketing partnership with HBO and Max, bringing the Canadian luxury hotel and resort company’s quintessential luxury straight into viewers’ living rooms.

Ahead of the new season’s release this Sunday (16 February 2025), we asked Marc Speichert, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Four Seasons, to get the inside scoop on the brand’s perfect synergy with The White Lotus.

Four Seasons and ‘The White Lotus’: a perfect match

Wallpaper*: Each Four Seasons property featured in the series almost feels like a character in its own right. What’s the process for selecting which hotel will play this starring role, and how do you think each location captures the theme of its respective season?

Marc Speichert: From Maui to Taormina and now Koh Samui, each Four Seasons property featured in The White Lotus immerses viewers in the essence of its destination, capturing its unique culture, natural beauty, and atmosphere. With 133 properties around the globe, we operate in the most dynamic and compelling destinations, each with its own story to tell and something to offer travellers of all kinds.

The destinations were also carefully selected to match each season’s distinctive theme. For example, Koh Samui was not only chosen for its visually stunning environment overlooking the Gulf of Thailand but also for its thematic alignment with the season’s exploration of Eastern spirituality and existential themes. The Resort was designed by Bill Bensley, inspired by traditional southern Thai architecture with thatched roofs, indoor and outdoor spaces, and constructed into the hillside to ensure exceptional views no matter where you are.

W*: Four Seasons tends to keep its promotional efforts quite understated – does this partnership with a high-profile, dramatic show signal a shift in the brand’s marketing strategy?

MS: The marketing partnership with HBO and Max represents an exciting milestone for our brand, embracing a cultural phenomenon that celebrates extraordinary storytelling and the universal passion for travel. It also underscores the growing connection between travel and pop culture – two worlds that naturally complement each other, as travel fuels creativity and sparks curiosity on a global scale.

Our partnership with The White Lotus is a testament to the dynamism and quality of our hotels and resorts. As we grow towards the future, we continue to focus on destinations that are most important to luxury travellers, while creating exclusive opportunities to explore the world with Four Seasons.

W*: Since the partnership with The White Lotus, have the Four Seasons properties featured in the show (as well as others) attracted a different type of guest?

MS: Four Seasons has observed significant interest from guests eager to explore Hawaii and Italy following the first two seasons of The White Lotus. We’re already seeing a similar positive response for Thailand as excitement builds around season three.

The growth in visitor numbers after The White Lotus has been truly remarkable, with a substantial surge in interest and bookings observed during and after the airing of both the first and second seasons. For example, Maui experienced a 425% year-over-year increase in website visits and a 386% increase in availability checks during season one alone, an indicator of the impact that The White Lotus has had on overall property interest and brand enhancement.

Gen Zs and Millennials are certainly a target for our brand, as they represent the next generation of luxury travellers. These demographic groups are crucial to our growth plans, aligning with broader trends and given generational wealth shifts. With a strong interest in film, television, and culture, set-jetting has been an incredible platform for us to tap into the interests of these generations. Our internal research shows that 88% of Millennials who watch the show and are aware of Four Seasons associate it positively with the brand, while 71% express a strong likelihood of visiting the featured properties.

As enthusiasm for The White Lotus continues to translate into real-world travel demand, we’re excited to bring these experiences to even more guests around the world.

W*: What’s been your favourite aspect of the partnership so far?

MS: Our connection to The White Lotus has had an incredible halo effect across our brand. With the rise of ‘set-jetting’, we know that travellers are making destination decisions based on their favourite films and TV series. It has opened the doors for even more people to experience our beautiful hotels and their surrounding destinations.

W*: Is there a particular experience, as seen in the show, that you’d recommend trying?

MS: Having travelled to each of our properties that play backdrops in The White Lotus, there is so much to explore in each of the destinations. The outrigger canoe experience in Maui, exploring the cobblestone streets and the Teatro Antico in Taormina, and taking a lesson at the Muay Thai boxing ring in Koh Samui would all be highlights.

For those travelling with Four Seasons in other parts of the world, we are introducing exclusive guest experiences and bookable offerings to celebrate season three of The White Lotus, including screening events, pop-up bars and poolside escapes.

W*: For devoted fans of the show, what sort of special experiences or events can they look forward to at Four Seasons properties in celebration of the new season?

MS: To celebrate this new season, we will be introducing exclusive on-property experiences across our portfolio. Soon to be unveiled, these include exclusive screening events in Prague, Koh Samui, and more; Poolside Escape Cabanas in Palm Beach, Napa Valley and Dubai; The White Lotus-inspired pop-up bars in Thailand and Singapore; and The White Lotus Afternoon Tea at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane and select Thai resorts.

W*: With the renewal of The White Lotus for a fourth season, what can we expect? Could the next destination be a shift away from the sun-soaked locations?

MS: We are thrilled that The White Lotus has been renewed for a fourth season and look forward to seeing how the story unfolds.

The White Lotus Season 3 premiers this Sunday, 16 February 2025 at 9 pm EST/PST on HBO and Max

The last licks of summer are beginning to fade as fall creeps in with its almost imperceptible shifts: crisp air and evenings that arrive a few moments earlier. As the world starts turning again after the dog days of August, so does the global hotel scene, sprouting a crop of design-led stays exciting enough to plan a trip around. This month, legendary hospitality tour-de-force Ian Schrager debuts his swank next act in West Hollywood, a dreamy boîte opens in the Burgundian hamlet of Meursault, a resurrected landmark of Nordic sophistication welcomes holidaygoers back to the Danish Riviera town of Hornbæk, a halcyon hideaway arrives in the Portuguese countryside and Left Lane’s latest project makes a retro-cool splash in Savannah, Georgia.

The world’s best new hotel openings

September 2026

Cori Hornbæk Hotel, Denmark

Cori Hornbæk Hotel is an aesthetic homage to the Danish Riviera. Breathing new life into a once-forgotten architectural gem originally designed by Ole Falkentorp in 1935, Copenhagen-based Jon Clausen of NVMBR Architects and Scandinavian studio AART resurrected the coastal crash pad. Perched on a sandy beach on the northern shores of Zealand, overlooking the Kattegat Strait, the hotel’s interiors exude contemporary Nordic sophistication, with warm, muted hues and clean lines spanning its 77 rooms, five townhouses, bar and restaurant. The property also possesses a spa that, like everything else, is inspired by the raw beauty of Hornbæk’s coastline.

Cori Hornbæk Hotel is located at Havnevej 25, 3100 Hornbæk, Denmark

Read our full hotel review of Cori Hornbæk Hotel

Maison Le Chevreuil, Meursault, France

In conceptualising Maison Le Chevreuil, the idea was to create a smaller, design-driven alternative to the grand château stays throughout Burgundy. Two rising local architects, Aubin Prost and Johanna Leserre, took on the responsibility of renovating the structure and shaping the interiors into something spirited yet sleek, guided by heritage but distinctly fresh. The result is a cosy bolthole with a whisper of luxury located on the main square in the village of Meursault. The reception area – with its terrazzo marble floors made from fragments of local Corton stone, rammed earth (pisé) bar, natural clay plaster walls and oak accents – does triple duty for check-in, coffee and cocktails. Rooms, too, are a masterclass in craftsmanship, with thoughtful details such as Hästens beds, rounded seating and curved showers inspired by wine tanks.

Mansion Le Chevreuil is located at 1 Place de la République, 21190 Meursault, France

Public West Hollywood, USA

In opening Public West Hollywood, hospitality giant Ian Schrager brings his trademark style – polished, but with a subversive edge – to West Hollywood, a place known for boozy brunches and all-night benders. The hotel – a meeting of the minds between the legendary hotelier, architects John Pawson and Alan Bell, and interior designers Francois Champsaur, Aurore Rouillay and ISC Design Studio – isn’t necessarily catering to a raucous crowd, though some revellers will no doubt stop in, intrigued by the metallic magenta sculptures by artist Anselm Reyle in the lobby, views of the Hollywood Hills from the park-like rooftop or in need of a plush bed to sleep after letting loose on the nightclub’s black-and-white checkered floor. If you prefer to skip the late-night antics in favour of a flick, bedrooms come with private screening rooms.

Public West Hollywood is located at 8300 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069, United States

Quinta Filippa, Laje, Portugal

Hidden away on a 40-hectare estate in the Portuguese countryside, Quinta Filippa is a 16-room, wellbeing-oriented hotel, wrapped in nature and made for slow living. The architecture, much of it restored by Portuguese architectural studio Arquiprivée, taps into the agrarian heritage of the Leiria region. The interiors – a collaboration between owners Mike Schwalbach and his wife, Nikki Mol, and Nanouk Souren van Ramshorst of Circle Studio – take a thoughtful approach, consciously embracing local materials such as original stone and upcycled wooden ceiling beams alongside handmade ceramics and streamlined furniture. Daily activities like guided hikes, farm visits and bread baking, wellness amenities – including a 25-meter heated saltwater pool, infrared saunas and ice baths – and farm-to-table dining foster a grounded approach to restoration.

Quinta Filippa is located at Beco Tropical 5, Laje, 2425-612, Portugal

Recess Hotel & Club, Savannah, Georgia, USA

For Recess Hotel & Club, Left Lane’s latest hospitality project, following the opening of Hotel Bardo Savannah in 2024, Atelier Pond transformed the Beaux-Arts-style Manger Building, one of Savannah’s first skyscrapers, into a nostalgia-driven, new-school stay, tapping into the city’s creative rhythm and a sense of youthful whimsy. The 221 rooms – including 62 bunks – are fun-loving and functional, with analogue elements such as push-button light switches, original mosaic tile flooring and custom throws by local artist Juliana Lupacchino. Each floor has a rumpus room, a guest-only social hub with vending machines, vintage board games and Mahjong tables. Other highlights include a bathhouse circuit (steam rooms, saunas and cold plunges), a convivial bar shrouded in lush greenery and a tiled rooftop pool.

Recess Hotel & Club is located at 7 E Congress St, Savannah, GA 31401. United States

August 2026

1 Hotel Austin, Texas

1 Hotel has already left its eco-luxury imprint on cities around the world, from Miami to Tokyo, and now Austin joins the list. Rising from the tallest tower in Texas, the nature-inspired interiors – a collaboration between Studio MAI and the Starwood Hotels design team – do justice to two of the city’s most emblematic outdoor destinations: Waller Creek, a historic downtown waterway, and Lady Bird Lake, a reservoir on the Colorado River. The dialogue between urban and elemental comes to life through local stone, reclaimed wood, raw textiles and biophilic touches such as native shrubs. Guests can take in views of the restored green corridor from airy rooms, savour seasonal Texas ingredients at the restaurant, enjoy the rooftop bar and pool and switch off at the Bamford Wellness Spa.

1 Hotel Austin is located at 96 Red River St, Austin, TX 78701, United States

Amanvari, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Aman’s long-awaited Baja California debut, Amanvari, set within the exclusive Costa Palmas community on the East Cape and meaning ‘peace’ and ‘water’ in Sanskrit, does a right turn from the mega-resorts of Los Cabos. Elastic Architects’ design, with initial contributions from Heah & Co., centres on the elemental landscape and the indoor-outdoor living afforded by its desert horizons, towering cardón cacti, warm breezes and the deep blue waters of the Sea of Cortez. Dotted across the property are just 18 sleek casitas. Each is finished with natural stone, timber and plaster and enhanced by bespoke furnishings, expansive terraces, heated pools, outdoor showers and generous alfresco living spaces. Privacy and peace are intertwined with wellness that taps into ancestral traditions and modern technology, ranging from temazcal to hydrotherapy houses.

Amanvari is located at Eureka s/n esquina con Sta Maria la Ribera, 23570 East Cape, B.C.S., Mexico

Chapter Chianti, Tuscany, Italy

Imagined by South African interiors architect Tristan Du Plessis as a modern Tuscan retreat, the second addition to the Chapter Italia portfolio sits within a restored 17th-century borgo, spanning 50 hectares of vineyards, olive groves and landscaped gardens in the undulating hills of Chianti. That all may sound like a traditional agriturismo, but upon first glance, it’s very clearly a contemporary, slightly unexpected rebrand of the countryside classic. The social and sleeping spaces mix earthy tones and modern styling to create bold expressions with character and soul. The preserved original stone staircases and vaulted ceilings mingle with furniture handcrafted by local makers, custom lighting from DCW Editions and Marset and playful art – from Kokekit drawings splashed across the ceilings of Osso to a striking work concealed beneath the pool and 82 rooms.

Chapter Chianti is located at Loc. Fontebussi, Cavriglia (Arezzo) 52022, Italy

Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel, Italy

Travellers with a penchant for historic grandeur will feel right at home among the treasure trove of brocade, gilded mirrors and Carrara marble at one of Venice’s most legendary hotels, which will reopen after a multi-year restoration under the Four Seasons flag. Uniting a trio of interconnected palaces and set on the Riva degli Schiavoni, steps from Piazza San Marco, with interiors by Pierre-Yves Rochon, the 120-key landmark boasts a museum-worthy collection of Murano glass, local Rubelli fabrics and ​o​il paintings. At the centre of the 15th-century Palazzo Dandolo, the atrium is an exquisite showpiece of soaring pink marble columns and a grand staircase. ​The accommodations range from spacious one-bedroom suites inspired by private Venetian residences, with generous velvet living areas and king bedrooms, to light-filled rooms in soft cream and honey tones overlooking the ​lagoon​.

Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel is located at Riva degli Schiavoni, 4196, 30122 Venice, Italy

Luura - Cliff, Paros, Greece

Paros is quietly rising through the ranks among Greece devotees seeking a more understated alternative to tourist-heavy Santorini and party-centric Mykonos. Its newest stay, Luura - Cliff, designed by Elastic Architects with interiors by Berlin-based studio Lambs and Lions, makes a compelling case for a laid-back Cycladic escape – sans screaming toddlers, blaring speakers, and (hopefully) TikTok reels. Influenced by the island’s artistic legacy, slower rhythm, and warm Mediterranean hospitality, the seafront retreat integrates the enduring charm of whitewashed Cycladic architecture with earthen hues, local stone and a significant art collection, including both site-specific commissions and works pulled from the Khoury family cache – notably pieces by Greek artists Sofia Mitsola and Kostas Paniaras, sculptor Judith Hopf and painter Chantal Joffe. The result is an environment that feels both familiar and unfettered across 39 spacious suites, two restaurants, a wellness area and a chapel.

Luura - Cliff is located at Agia Eirini, Paros, 84400, Greece

Read our full hotel review of Luura - Cliff, Paros

July 2026

Fouquet’s Mykonos, Greece

Fouquet’s Mykonos expands the brand’s reach beyond its exclusive addresses in Paris, New York City, Courchevel, and Saint-Barthélemy to a Grecian jetset hotspot. Set on Paraga Beach, on the southern coast of Mykonos, the sanctuary, designed by Divercity Architects, trades clubbing for calm. Embracing a contemporary take on traditional Cycladic aesthetics, it offers sweeping views of sparkling azure waters of the Aegean Sea from its 61 breezy suites and three villas, imbued with the serenity of sun-faded neutrals, clean lines and natural materials like stone. Embracing restoration, the wellness-focused amenities include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a spa sanctuary in partnership with Dr Barbara Sturm (think hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a flotation tank and an ice bath) and a basketball court carved directly into the rock.

Fouquet’s Mykonos is located at Paraga 0, Mykonos 846 00, Greece

Gran Hotel Margalida, Banyalbufar, Spain

Annua Signature builds on its Spanish presence with the debut of Gran Hotel Margalida, located in the village of Banyalbufar on the quieter western coast of Mallorca. Madrid-based architect Álvaro Onieva and interior designer Virginia Nieto reinvented a historic building into a contemporary escape that captures the elemental beauty and ease of the Balearics. Local materials – notably stone references the Tramuntana mountain range – hues inspired by the Mallorcan glow and vast water views set the tone for an unhurried Mediterranean holiday. Guests can float between the terraces planted with indigenous wild olive and 29 sea-facing rooms, warmed with sunny yellow accents. For an added dose of relaxation, the wellness area has an indoor pool and a light-washed wood gym that may be the chicest of all.

Gran Hotel Margalida is located at Carrer Major, 49, 07191 Banyalbufar, Illes Balears, Spain

Hoshinoya Nara Prison

Working with longtime collaborator and architect Rie Azuma, Hoshinoya Resorts has transformed the former Nara Prison – the sole survivor of architect Keijiro Yamashita's Five Great Meiji Prisons, built in 1908 by inmates – into 48 soigné suites. Each merges nine to eleven former cells, contrasting century-old red-brick masonry with contemporary finishes. The hotel’s layout mimics a hand: five cell wings radiate from a central watchtower where guards once surveyed prisoners. The former detention block now houses a Japanese-French restaurant, whilst an adjoining museum, provocatively titled ‘An Eternal Question Posed by an Iconic Prison’, asks visitors to meditate on liberty inside spaces built to deny it.

Hoshinoya Nara Prison is located at 18 Hannyajicho, Nara, 630-8102, Japan

Hôtel Nelligan, Montréal, Canada

Following a comprehensive transformation led by Corner Collection, a Montreal-based family-owned independent hospitality group, in collaboration with Atelier Zébulon Perron, the luxe redux of Hôtel Nelligan honours the heritage of existing architectural elements – including original stonework and exposed brick – while integrating refined materials to create a cohesive, elevated environment in lockstep with the past and present identity of Old Montréal. Fostering a deeper sense of place are partnerships with local artists and makers such as Lambert & Fils and St-Damase. The use of rich velvet sofas in elegantly curved shapes, deeply veined marble and warm wood infuses the interiors with character, from the 102 guest rooms to the atmospheric modern Greek restaurant and cocktail bar/music salon nestled within the old stone vaults.

Hôtel Nelligan is located at 106 Rue St-Paul Ouest, Montréal, QC H2Y 1Z3, Canada

Hotel Palacio Bellas Artes, Curio Collection by Hilton, San Sebastián, Spain

One of Spain’s earliest grand movie theatres just entered a second act as a striking hotel. Isabel López Vilalta recast the 1914 Beaux-Arts cinema as Hotel Palacio Bellas Artes, Curio Collection by Hilton, reawakening the building’s spirit and inviting an international audience to experience it anew. An audacious destination for design and gastronomy, the landmark hotel weaves rich colour, texture and subtle cinematic references into a tapestry of early film glamour and San Sebastián’s cultural heritage. The 81 rooms and suites are dressed in sumptuous shades of rose, with heavy drapery and velvet walls that nod to a theatrical past. This sense of drama carries through to the lobby bar and the highly anticipated Basque-influenced restaurant.

Hotel Palacio Bellas Artes, Curio Collection by Hilton is located at Urbieta Kalea, 61, 20006 Donostia / San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain

Shore Haven Inn, Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA

Cape Cod is one of New England’s most quintessential summer colonies, with an elite pedigree that spans the Kennedy clan and present-day polo-clad elites. But a younger, cooler, more accessible undercurrent is sweeping in. Riding this wave, Lark Hotels continues its commitment to reinvigorating tired stateside digs into hip haunts for modern-minded travellers. At the old Victorian hotel, formerly known as the Beach Breeze Inn, hydrangea-framed gardens, freshly cut lawns, white Adirondack chairs and a classic shingled exterior look like a postcard from the Cape. Boston-based Rachel Reider Interiors gave the hotel a fresh new look, anchored by a coastal palette of watery blues, soft greens and sand, complemented by textured wallcoverings, light wood and rattan accents.

Shore Haven Inn is located at 321 Shore St, Falmouth, MA 02540, United States

The Dean Munich

Irish lifestyle brand The Dean has arrived in Munich’s Westend. Set between the main station and Theresienwiese, the site of the annual Oktoberfest, the historic quarter trades its former factory past for creative studios and indie Java joints with Google and Apple offices nearby. Designer Tatjana von Stein, a Munich native, has reworked a 1970s hotel block into 281 rooms, fusing the city’s Art Nouveau roots with 1980s club culture. Glossy lacquer clashes with burr wood, velvet against polished chrome, whilst the lobby features an oversized eye motif channelling new-wave iconography. For sustenance, Ibasho opens with yellowtail hiramasa, slow-cooked pork shoulder temaco and Wagyu ribeye, and post-prandial treats are served up in four bars, including a hidden speakeasy.

The Dean Munich is located at Landsberger Str. 68, 80339 Munich, Germany

Read our full hotel review of The Dean Munich

June 2026

Casa Cedo, Porto, Portugal

Porto is known for Port wine and the bridges across the Douro River, but it’s underrated when it comes to its boutique hotel scene. Casa Cedo has the potential to put the city on the design-driven hospitality map for a cohort of travellers who prioritise intimacy and curation over spectacle and scale. Daniela Franceschini, founder of Lisbon-based Quiet Studios, worked closely with local artisans and creatives – including Ayala Braidman, a ceramist based in Porto, and Portuguese visual artist Juliana Julieta – to imbue the property with character. The rich details carry from the eight rooms to the common areas: a lounge area, rooftop, private rear garden and a living/dining room that hosts special events with buzzed-about local chefs, as well as a hybrid reception and retail cabinet with ceramics, coffee, fresh flowers and Byredo fragrances.

Casa Cedo is located at R. de Cedofeita n. 334, 4050-174 Porto, Portugal

La Darbia, Chianti, Italy

A peaceful escape with access to wineries in Chianti and Florence (just a 25-minute drive away), La Darbia sits on a hilltop estate spanning 15 hectares of olive groves, meadows, and lavender fields. Restored by Studio Primatesta, the intimate retreat is the result of a meticulous renovation that preserves the 11th-century site’s original character and heritage. A contemporary spark comes through local materials – pietra serena, terracotta, travertine, and wood – and traditional craftsmanship techniques, such as intricate woodwork by Flavio Bettio, which ground its sense of place. Tucked into a trio of historic farmhouses, each of the 17 light-filled suites (four of which cater to families) is individually decorated with layered textures, while the windows frame the rolling countryside. The restaurant, led by Chef Sebastiano Pagliaro, serves seasonal Tuscan cuisine. All guests have access to two panoramic swimming pools.

La Darbia is located at Via Case Sparse (Greve), 16, 50022 Greve in Chianti, Italy

Eréma, Milos, Greece

Empiria Group arrived in Milos with the opening of Erema, a member of Design Hotels, located on the southeastern coast of the island near Provatas Beach. While the moon-like landscape may be hard to pull your gaze away from, the architecture and interiors by Athens-based ID Laboratorium, led by Stamos Hondrodimos, are equally arresting without pulling focus. The volcanic terrain lays the foundation for its sensibility and environmental consciousness. Minerals such as stone and marble, alongside sun-faded earth tones, contribute to a grounded feel. From the 41 suites, each with a private pool and panoramic terraces overlooking the Aegean Sea, to the two restaurants, the indoor and outdoor spaces flow together, an expression of the Cycladic lifestyle. The third location of Anthologist, a boutique curated by Andria Mitsakos, stocks global finds, Greek ceramics and vintage treasures.

Eréma is located at Cape Chalaka, Plaka 848 00, Greece

Faraway Sag Harbor, New York

Faraway, the hip, heritage-tinged brand from Blue Flag, with outposts in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, has expanded its reach out East. For Faraway Sag Harbor, Jenny Bukovec Studio, in collaboration with the in-house design team, gave the old Baron’s Cove a full facelift, reimagining the iconic hotel, located just a short walk from Havens Beach and Main Street, into a fresh-faced bolthole that draws on maritime history, merging a coastal palette and oceanic revival motifs. The 67 rooms and suites are clad in saturated hues and warm wood. The lobby lounge is envisioned as a hangout when not enjoying the outdoor spaces, including the covered porch, lush patio – conceived as the heart of the social scene – and outdoor pool. Guests also have access to Amalfi Coast–inspired dining at Zagara, a ground-floor bar and lounge and a gym.

Faraway Sag Harbor is located at 31 W. Water Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963, United States

Kitirua Plains Lodge, Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Abercrombie & Kent’s return to Kenya, with the opening of Kitirua Plains Lodge, an A&K Sanctuary in Amboseli National Park, marks a full-circle moment informed by the legacy of having defined luxury safari travel in the 1960s and a clear vision for the future. Pivoting from archetypal tented camps to something more permanent, Luxury Frontiers created structures from quarried stone with sculptural roofs that nod to traditional mud-building forms and timber screening. Interiors draw directly from the surrounding dust, grasslands and wetlands. Earth tones come to life in textured clay plaster walls, green stucco, green onyx accents, locally sourced Mazeras stone and handwoven sisal ceilings. Kenyan-made furniture crafted from mango wood and African teak is complemented by woven grass artwork and raffia accessories. The sculptural spiral staircase in the main lodge, open-air boma for storytelling and meals under the stars and yoga deck are also calibrated to the landscape.

Kitirua Plains Lodge, an A&K Sanctuary is located at Amboseli National Park, Ol Tukai, Kenya

May 2026

The Baby Grand, Coronado, USA

For its second hotel venture, The Baby Grand, San Diego-based hospitality group CH Projects (the team behind the power-clash cult-favorite Lafayette Hotel in North Park) snapped up a prime perch along Orange Avenue. Once an asphalt parking lot, the 31-key boutique is poised to become Coronado’s coolest stay, steering away from the dulcet tones synonymous with SoCal style. Brooklyn studio Post Company crafted a lush aesthetic that toes the line between overgrown jungle and fantastical underwater oasis. The lobby roars with sculpted rock formations, swaying palms and private lagoons. The under-the-sea themes play out vividly in the rooms, with iridescent clamshell headboards and oversized mirrored minibars mashed up against custom leaf wallpaper and bold leopard prints. The flashy, sensorial feast carries over into dining concepts: an oyster-and-champagne bar with an ornate mosaic of sea creatures and a craggy, Greek-inspired taverna.

The Baby Grand is located at 1315 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA 92118, United States

Hotel Corduroy, Montauk, USA

Montauk, the easternmost point of Long Island and the furthest of the Hamptons towns from New York City, retains a more laid-back appeal than the buttoned-up, busier East Hampton. Hotel Corduroy – the latest venture from Blue Flag Capital, which also includes The Beachside on Nantucket – takes over the former Sunset Montauk. To convert the old motor court into a cool summer weekend escape, Ward + Gray drew on the area’s surfing heritage and its Atlantic coastal setting, grounding the project in a palette of deep green, sun-faded red and light oak. Conceived with mingling in mind, the 29-key hotel will feature outdoor gathering spaces for golden-hour cocktails and firepit stargazing, while the rooms act as sanctuaries with grasscloth wallpaper, reeded bamboo bedside tables and rattan-wrapped consoles.

Hotel Corduroy is located at 437 West Lake Drive, Montauk, NY 11954, United States

Nômade Temple Madrid, Spain

Mexican-owned Nômade brings its breezy, wellness-centric bohemian ethos to Spain’s largest city with Nômade Temple Madrid, a creativity-driven urban destination for design, culture and healing. Housed within the restored Las Letras building on Gran Vía, the hotel’s layered aesthetic, the work of Oneness, is a visual expression of its eclectic vibe – sun-faded reds, geometric prints, modular seating, bold lighting. There's a deeply entrenched spirituality, yet it’s still very socialable. The 93 rooms and two penthouses are tailored for rest; likewise, GÖN House of Healing focuses on restoration. The scene beyond the guests' quarters and wellness wing is far more happening: a 112-seat restaurant draped in natural stone, aged brass and dramatic drapery; a communal cafe softly lit with vintage-style lamps; a speakeasy and nightclub for vinyl and vivid photo opps and a lush, romantic rooftop.

Nômade Temple Madrid is located at Calle Gran Vía, 11, 28013 Madrid, Spain

Sublime Sand, Comporta, Portugal

Following the well-laid roadmap of its destination-defining older sibling, Sublime Sand captures the wild, natural ethos of Portugal’s chicest coastal enclave. The architecture by Lisbon-based Fragmentos in collaboration with Sublime Comporta’s original architect, José Charrua, harmonises with the rugged, windswept landscape of Alentejo, where umbrella pines and cork trees perfume the air and rice paddies stretch as far as the eye can see. The indoor-outdoor spaces, created by Andringa Studio, take a similar approach – drawing from the sun-faded palette of the surrounding landscape and incorporating minimalist textures, local materials like wood and stone and sculptural forms. These elements come together across the multi-bedroom villas, Beefbar, Davvero – the crowd-pleasing Italian restaurant from Sublime Lisboa – as well as the wellness facility and kids’ club.

Sublime Sand is located at Estrada Nacional (EN) 261-1, 7570-337 Muda, CCI 3954 Grândola, Portugal

Tierras Villas, Crete, Greece

A quiet departure from the thumping beats of Mykonos and the hordes swarming Santorini, Crete’s newest refuge, part of the family-owned Omicron Hotels group, focuses on heritage and halcyon. Designed by Manos Kipritidis, Tierras Villas embraces a peacefulness that’s both visual and visceral, signalling a shift in how the island is being discovered – slower, more intentionally, with a stronger orientation toward nature and an eye for aesthetics. Set against the sweeping backdrop of the Mediterranean, each of the five minimally designed villas features calming hues and organic materials such as stone and wood, along with a private pool and expansive terraces for sipping a crisp, chilled glass of Vidiano while soaking in sweeping views of the sparkling sea and blue sky.

Tierras Villas is located at Mononaftis, Ag.Pelagia, 715 00 Crete, Heraklion 715 00, Greece

April 2026

Airelles Palladio, Venezia, Italy

The first project outside France for Airelles reaffirms the French hotel group’s knack for transforming historic landmarks into richly appointed luxury retreats. Spread across impeccably restored buildings – including the church of Santa Maria della Presentazione – the property occupies the site of the late-16th-century Bauer Palladio. Architect and interior designer Christophe Tollemer conjures a Venetian fantasy, steeped in heritage and the serenity of Giudecca. A warm palette of ambers, mahogany and deep blues, along with terrazzo and marble floors, custom Fortuny chandeliers, delicate Murano glass pieces, Rubelli wall coverings and hand-selected antiques gives the impression of staying at a noble villa. The elegant effect carries through the 45 rooms and suites, three restaurants, five bars, a spa and wellness area and swimming pools.

Airelles Palladio, Venezia is located at Fondamenta Zitelle, 33, 30133 Venice, Italy

Conrad Athens The Ilisian, Greece

Like the phoenix, the regenerative bird that rises from the ashes in Greek mythology, Conrad Athens The Ilisian emerges from the remains of its predecessor: the former Hilton Athens. Occupying the redeveloped mid-century modernist landmark on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, the 307-key hotel commemorates the building’s legacy, incorporating the original 620-square-meter marble façades by 20th-century Greek artist Yannis Moralis and exterior illumination by Eleftheria Deko, the Emmy Award-winning lighting designer behind the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The interiors by AvroKO pay tribute to the past through original furnishings pulled from the archives, which contrast with the sleek finishes and pop art of its modern revival. There are tonal rooms and suites with skyline views, nine restaurants and bars – including Athens’s first rooftop bar, reborn as Galaxy Dispensary – a spa and the largest outdoor pool in the city.

Conrad Athens The Ilisian is located at Vasilissis Sofias 46, Athina 115 28, Greece

Delano Miami Beach, USA

Delano Miami Beach isn’t a new build – the landmark property dates back to 1948, when its 14‑story tower was the tallest on the strip. Yet if you weren’t aware of its past, the slick surfaces and gleaming fixtures might belie its age. The transformation, led by Elastic, celebrates the spirit and sun-dappled lifestyle of Miami, while honouring the hotel’s legacy. The glossy pool area is flanked by umbrellas, accented with playful fringe. Rooms are bright and airy with crisp linens, light chevron wood flooring, rugs that evoke the soft sands below and large, ocean-facing windows. Gigi Rigolatto, the first-floor Italian concept designed by Hugo Toro, is a soaring oasis of striped plaster walls, intricately carved wooden panels and yellow Sienna marble.

Delano Miami Beach is located at 1685 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States

Read our full hotel review of Delano Miami Beach

Four Seasons Cartagena, Colombia

Located in Getsemaní, a vibrant neighbourhood steps from the Walled City, Four Seasons Cartagena captures the rhythm, romance and Caribbean charisma of Colombia’s most seductive city while also offering a sense of tranquillity and resort-style amenities. WATG breathed new life into a collection of historic buildings, restoring the Cloister of Saint Francis, timeworn façades, courtyards and the original Club Cartagena grand staircase. French designer François Catroux, in collaboration with Wimberly Interiors and AvroKO, shaped the interiors, which unfold in a warm embrace of old-world charm: intricate woodwork, sun-baked hues, and furnishings and textiles created by Colombian artisan Poli Mallarino. Guests can choose between colonial-style or contemporary rooms, each infused with timeless character. French studio SBM Interior Design extends the visual identity across the eight food and beverage venues, including the cocktail bar dedicated to architect Gastón Lelarge.

Four Seasons Cartagena is located at Calle 30 Media Luna 8B #8B-44, Getsemani, Cartagena 130001, Colombia

Read our full hotel review of Four Seasons Cartagena

Vestige Binidufà, Menorca, Spain

The buzz of Ibiza (thankfully) hasn’t yet reached Menorca. Nestled within an 800-hectare private estate on the island’s unspoiled northern coast, where native Minorcan cattle roam the untouched countryside, Vestige Binidufà preserves the bucolic side of the Balearics, sharing its sprawling grounds and amenities – including two restaurants, swimming pools and wellness facilities – with its hilltop sister, Vestige Son Ermità, which opened in June 2025. Shaped by the land and its history as a working farm, the in-house design studio, Vestige Estudio, restored a red-colored finca into an 11-bedroom, valley-ringed hideout that harmonises rustic farmhouse charm and serene sophistication, expressed through earthy hues, exposed wood beam ceilings, terracotta tile flooring, stone soaking tubs and antiques from the family’s collection.

Vestige Binidufà is located at Diseminado Binideufa, 18, 07750 Ferreries, Illes Balears, Spain

March 2026

1 Hotel Tokyo, Japan

Adding to Tokyo’s striking skyline, 1 Hotel Tokyo, the brand’s first seedling in Japan, is a masterclass in sustainable luxury within an urban setting, rising atop Akasaka Trust Tower. To create a biophilic oasis in one of Asia’s largest cities, Creme, in collaboration with 1 Hotel’s in-house design team, turned to nature, bringing the outdoors in through the thoughtful use of natural materials, a practice deeply rooted in both 1 Hotels’ philosophy and Japanese design. A vertical botanical installation, Oya stone and recycled timber panels greet guests in the 38th-floor lobby. Rooms are adorned with muted earthy hues, abundant greenery and floor-to-ceiling windows that flood in sunlight. The spaces feel like a breath of fresh air: a visual reset, a place to unwind above the bustle of the city.

1 Hotel Tokyo is located at 2 Chome-17-22 Akasaka, Minato City, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan

Read our full hotel review of 1 Hotel Tokyo

Fairmont Hanoi, Vietnam

Fairmont Hanoi, the brand’s first debut in Vietnam, adds a splash of modern luxury to the city’s Old Quarter. Glimmering gold and dripping in glamour, the 241-key hotel is a contemporary take on the opulence of Vietnamese tradition, poised to become a landmark in its own right. Influenced by French Colonial and Indochinese architecture, the sculpted, articulated façade, with collonaded podiums and balconies, punctuates the ever-changing cityscape. The interiors by Aston Design extend the aesthetic, while layering in elements that echo Vietnamese symbolism and the surrounding landscape, from a large-scale floral installation in the lobby to the vertical tapestry of vegetation in the courtyard. The clutch restaurants, bars and lounges serve as the social hubs, while the 3,500-square-meter spa and light wood-accented rooms channel artistry into relaxation.

Fairmont Hanoi is located at 10 Tran Nguyen Han Street, Hanoi, Vietnam

Read our full hotel review of Fairmont Hanoi

The Huntington Hotel, San Francisco, USA

San Francisco is in the midst of a renaissance, driven by new culinary and hospitality happenings, most notably the return of the Huntington Hotel. Once frequented by luminaries like Truman Capote, the storied Georgian estate helped put the city on the map. The redux – now part of Leading Hotels of the World – seeks to reclaim its cultural legacy. For hometown designer Ken Fulk, returning Nob Hill’s crown jewel to its ivy-clad glory required a grand reimagining of its accommodations, restaurant and wellness facilities, alongside a careful polishing of original plasterwork ceilings and boiserie panels. The 143 rooms and suites capture the elegance of the hotel’s heyday, enhanced by the allure of warm, muted hues and bold art. The Big Four benefited from a gracious upgrade without compromising its character, while the emblematic Nob Hill Spa once again beckons with an atrium crowned by Moorish fretwork and a heated indoor swimming pool.

The Huntington Hotel is located at 1075 California St, San Francisco, CA 94108, United States

The Lake Como Edition, Italy

Situated on Lake Como’s western shore in Cadenabbia, The Lake Como Edition balances heritage and hip, standing out among the historic landmarks of Italy’s most legendary lakeside destination. The Edition’s creative directors, Kirstin Bailey and Paul Haslhofer, in collaboration with Neri&Hu and architectural partner De.Tales, transformed a 19th-century palazzo into a modern interpretation of Italian glamour, translating the landscape – lush flora, turquoise water, pink sunsets – into a colour palette complemented by marble-faced archways and terrazzo floors. The lobby lounge is punctuated by a celadon green Sekoya marble bar and a custom Neri + Hu bauble chandelier, while the lakefront pool deck, dotted with striped umbrellas, looks ready to splash across postcards. Walnut furnishings and arched windows add character to the 148 rooms. True to the hotel’s forward-thinking ethos, there’s a state-of-the-art longevity spa for high-tech biohacking treatments and cryotherapy.

The Lake Como Edition is located at Via Regina, 41, 22011 Cadenabbia, Italy

Read our full hotel review of The Lake Como Edition

Six Senses London, UK

While most of London’s luxury hotels cluster around Mayfair and Belgravia, Six Senses London plants its flag in the heart of Bayswater. Taking cues from the building’s origins as the city’s first major department store, AvroKO looked to the heritage façade, the Great Exhibition and the streamliners of that era, weaving in modern, streamlined thinking and a soft palette that shifts the mood from retail to retreat. The residential-style rooms and suites unfold in a serene sweep of rounded forms, inky blues and warm woods. Some feature soaking tubs or glass stall showers that resemble old-school phone booths. Works by contemporary British artists complement a sculptural green bar, curved velvet seating and orb-like lighting in Whiteley’s Bar. Follow the restored circular staircase down to the basement spa, replete with a handmade porcelain petal sculpture by Ula Saniawa, a vaulted swimming pool and a biohacking recovery lounge.

Six Senses London is located at 1 Redan Pl, London W2 4SA, United Kingdom

Read our full hotel review of Six Senses London

February 2026

Alila Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico

Far removed from nightclubs and co-eds in Cancun, Alila Mayakoba shows off a more tranquil, down-to-earth side of the Riviera Maya. Huber Design Studio took a biophilic approach, celebrating the ecological beauty and deep cultural roots of the Yucatán Peninsula. Situated at the intersection of nature and culture, the five-star, adult-centric resort unfolds across mangrove-framed waterways, cenotes and the Caribbean coastline. Native, locally sourced materials – including tropical hardwoods such as tzalam, parota and rosa morada, along with stone ranging from hand-chiselled Mérida limestone to travertine – ground the design. Furniture, ceramics and henequén textiles handcrafted by Mexican artisans reinforce a sense of proximity and purpose, resulting in a retreat that feels deeply rooted in place while thoughtfully reducing its environmental footprint.

Alila Mayakoba is located at Carretera Federal Cancún-Playa del Carmen KM 298, Mexico

Ayan Zalaat, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Set on a 34-acre estate just outside Ulaanbaatar, Ayan Zalaat gives visitors a visually stunning and immersive introduction to Mongolian heritage. The combination of architecture led by the Mabetex Group and interior design by Fabio Friso reflect the country’s rich roots, while introducing a new echelon of glamour and grandeur to contrast its rugged surroundings. From the opulent double staircase and chandelier-studded reception to the 10 dazzling F&B concepts, it’s lavish on a considerably large-scale – but its sumptuous scene never overshadows its spirituality. The 32 rooms and suites show off bespoke furnishings, premium Mongolian wool carpets, marble bathrooms and expansive windows for soaking in the panoramic views. The property is also home to the Soma Temple and an ornately decorated Mongolian theatre, adorned with bright colours and intricate motifs, that hosts traditional throat singing (khöömii).

Ayan Zalaat is located at BZD - 11 khoroo, Ulaanbaatar 13241, Mongolia

The Newman, London, UK

Designed by the London-based studio Lind + Almond, The Newman is a new independent hotel that strikes a balance between a modern creative vision and nods to Fitzrovia's decades-long bohemian and literary heritage. Drawing inspiration from Art Deco design and the vibrant, creative spirit of the neighbourhood itself, the 81 rooms, including 16 suites, mix a soft yet warm neutral palette and geometric shapes with scene-setting art and a curated selection of books. Guests will also notice references to iconic figures such as the curves of the wood on the headboards, which recall the oversized bangles worn by British writer, heiress and political activist Nancy Cunard. Bathrooms feature bespoke tiling that echoes the façade of Gem Langham Court Hotel and sinks influenced by Shropshire House.

The Newman is located at 50 Newman St, London W1T 3EB, UK

Read our full hotel review of The Newman

The Vineta Hotel, Palm Beach, USA

The newest entrant to the posh Palm Beach scene, The Vineta Hotel, marks the first US opening for Oetker Hotels (the luxury hospitality brand behind Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc and Eden Rock - St Barths). Set on Cocoanut Row, just two blocks from Worth Avenue shopping, the elegant property revives what was previously The Chesterfield, a beloved Palm Beach hotel. Paris-based interior designer Tino Zervudachi headed the top-to-bottom renovation of the 1926 landmark, restoring iconic elements such as the distinctive Mediterranean Revival façade and leaning into its 100-year-old legacy with signature Palm Beach pastels and details like scalloped pendant lights that ooze coastal glamour. Snowbirds can expect 41 light-filled rooms, a flower-framed courtyard restaurant called Coco’s, a cocktail bar and a pool flanked by sun loungers.

The Vineta Hotel is located at 363 Cocoanut Row, Palm Beach, FL 33480, United States

White Elephant Aspen, USA

Colorado’s chicest winter hotspot welcomes a new stay aimed at the well-dressed coteries. White Elephant Aspen – the brand’s first Western outpost, joining properties in Nantucket and Palm Beach – introduces a contemporary, alpine-chic aesthetic to Aspen. The brainchild of Boston-based architectural firm EMBARC, the 54-key hotel showcases a mountainside colourway of white, cognac and charcoal, complemented by the natural textures of leather, wood and stone. Rooms and suites (some of which have crackling fireplaces) are kitted with porcelain tile, embossed headboards and oil-rubbed bronze light fixtures. The art collection boasts 125 original works, including landscapes by Alex Katz and rotating photography of nearby Maroon Bells by Bob Tabor. Guests familiar with the portfolio will appreciate the playful details, such as elephant door knockers.

White Elephant Aspen is located at 110 W Main St, Aspen, CO 81611, United States

January 2026

Andaz One Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

For Andaz One Bangkok, a new lifestyle hotel on historic Wireless Road, Thailand interior design firm PIA drew inspiration from the pulse of the city, from the motorbike-jammed bustling streets to the hidden alleys. Envisioned as a base for ‘curious urban travellers,’ the design and energy aim to match the exuberance of the Thai capital. Colour and texture play an important role in expressing a sense of evolution. Arches – in mirrors, hallways and windows – nod to the curved lines of the Thai mid-century movement, while pops of sunny yellow and orange, bold works by Thai female artists and traditional window grills inject character and personality. As much a place to unwind as to sip cocktails at the swank lounge or swim in the outdoor infinity pool overlooking Lumphini Park, the 244 rooms are quiet with peaceful, leafy views.

Andaz One Bangkok is located at 201 Wireless Road, Lumphini, Patumwan, 10330 Bangkok, Thailand

Chesa Marchetta, Engadin Valley, Switzerland

In 2014, Iwan and Manuela Wirth, co-founders of the international gallery Hauser & Wirth, expanded into hospitality with the creation of Artfarm and, four years later, opened The Fife Arms in Scotland. The creative powerhouse couple has done it again with Chesa Marchetta, a cosy 13-bedroom retreat in Sils Maria, a small village in Switzerland’s Engadin Valley. Reimagined by the design-oriented duo and frequent collaborator Luis Laplace, of the Paris-based interior architecture firm Laplace, the seasonal refuge comprises four historic buildings dating back to the 16th century, decorated with arven wood panelling, traditional Engadin furniture and blankets from a nearby weaving collective. As to be expected, the art collection is exceptional: a mix of works by Old Masters and local artists, alongside murals by Corin Sands. There’s also a former barn turned 46-seat restaurant, adorned with stone and an exposed wood-beam ceiling.

Chesa Marchetta is located at Via da Marias 88, 7514 Sils im Engadin/Segl, Switzerland

Read our full hotel review of Chesa Marchetta

Oculto, Mexico City, Mexico

Oculto, the latest venture from Vida Lenta – the hospitality group behind Hotel Dama in Condesa and Hotel Parián in Roma Norte – is an intimate boutique gem in Mexico City’s trendy Juárez neighbourhood. Fernanda Diaz, of Mexico City-based interior design studio Eran, conceived the hotel as both an intentional hideaway for travellers and a tribute to Mexican craftsmanship and creativity. Tucked behind an unassuming façade on Calle Versailles, the 21-room bolthole veers toward minimalism with polished concrete floors and clean lines, yet the interiors are anything but sterile. The palpable warmth comes from the thoughtful layering of locally sourced antiques and contemporary art, creating an authentic atmosphere that encourages slowing down while remaining unmistakably spirited, like CDMX itself.

Oculto is located at Calle Versalles 80, 06600 Mexico City, Mexico

Soori Penang, George Town, Malaysia

​For Soo K. Chan, ​the founder of award-winning firm​ SCDA Architects, Soori Penang​ – the follow-up to the flagship Soori Bali – is deeply personal. ​Situated in the oldest part​ of George Town, the UNESCO-designated historic heart of Penang, ​the extraordinary undertaking reinvents a​ collection of Khoo clan​ shophouses​, where the architect was born and raised, into an intimate 15-key ​luxury boutique hotel. Centuries-old craftsmanship shines, reflecting an unwavering reverence for the past, thoughtfully reinterpreted through a contemporary mindset. The generously proportioned one- to three-bedroom ​suites are imbued with heritage details, from motifs inspired by the ornate Khoo Kongsi temple to carved stone and onyx lanterns, complemented by custom-designed furniture and latticed shutters. Inner courtyards, with reflective pools and bespoke stone fountains, provide a tranquil place to unwind between excursions.

Soori Penang is located at 48 Lebuh Aceh, George Town, Penang, 10300, Malaysia

Read our full hotel review of Soori Penang

V Villas Maldives at Mirihi

International architecture and design firm Studio Gronda transformed an older resort in the South Ari Atoll into a stylish vacation paradise where tropical escapism is elevated with sun-dappled sophistication. The newly unveiled V Villas Maldives at Mirihi, debuting as part of Accor’s MGallery Collection, echoes the barefoot luxury essence of Maldivian holidays. In tune with the rhythms of island living, each of the 42 villas showcases contemporary open-air architecture, seamlessly integrating indoor and outdoor spaces. Throughout the property, guest sanctuaries are accented with timber floors, vaulted ceilings, natural textures and handcrafted furnishings. Accommodations range from overwater villas with private sun decks suspended above the lagoon to beachfront abodes shrouded by lush greenery, as well as multi-bedroom suites complete with private pools.

V Villas Maldives at Mirihi - MGallery Collection is located at Mirihi Island, 00190, Maldives

Five years after the beloved original structure was demolished, a new incarnation of the Dusit Thani Bangkok – its rebuild led by Dragon Company – has opened not with fanfare but with the understatement and discretion on which the family-owned brand has built its reputation. Other than a traditional Thai blessing ceremony by Buddhist monks, the first day of operation was marked only by a few small on-site gatherings.

Inside the new Dusit Thani Bangkok, Thailand

When the original Dusit Thani Bangkok opened in 1970, it was groundbreaking in more ways than one. It was one of the first modern luxury hotels in Bangkok and the distinctive 22-storey building with a triangular footprint was the city’s tallest for a decade. The modernist façade, crowned by a golden spire, was the epitome of jet-setting elegance at the time. With its resolutely Thai brand of style and hospitality, the Dusit Thani Bangkok became one of the most beloved hotels for well-heeled locals too.

Replacing such a monument was not without its challenges. ‘It’s not just about creating a new hotel or an iconic destination,’ says André Fu, who was charged with the interior design, in his first exclusive interview about the project. ‘What intrigued me revolved around the notion of what Thai hospitality is in this day and age.’

Early conversations between Fu and Chanin Donavanik, who leads the second generation to run the family business, confirmed the owners’ brief to preserve their heritage and the atmosphere of the original property, as well as to highlight ‘a commitment to a bolder, forward-thinking evolution of the brand’, in the words of Fu.

It was an inspired choice to confer the responsibility on Hong Kong-born, British-educated Fu. But as an outsider looking in, he was impressed by the family’s ‘personal appreciation and pride in Thai culture, hospitality and craftsmanship’. It wasn’t the first time he has been called upon to give his cultural outsider’s perspective: he has also worked on high-profile projects like Mitsui Kyoto and Château La Coste in Aix-en-Provence.

Parallels in both structure and design that evoke a sense of place without creating a pale copy of the original are subtle but immediately recognisable. Like in the first Dusit, the almost hidden ground floor still includes a garden and water feature alongside drinking and dining options (the casual Dusit Gourmet and the Pavilion all-day dining space, as well as a bar). The main entrance is reached through a spacious covered driveway with a sculpted geometric ceiling one level above that, an extravagant use of space that other newly built hotels might choose to forego.

Somkiat Lo-Chindapong, deputy managing director of Bangkok-based Architects 49 – which established Dragon Company with OMA Asia Hong Kong – is quick to highlight those unexpected choices. The hotel is the first phase to open of Dragon Company’s Dusit Central Park complex, which will include residential, retail and office towers and spaces when it is completed in 2025. ‘[The buildings] are angled differently, they have different façades, they are not a cluster of similar buildings,’ like you would see in Singapore or Hong Kong, says Lo-Chindapong.

Another structural luxury that wouldn’t have been possible in the old hotel: all guest rooms are located on only one side of the 39-storey building, meaning that every room (as well as the show-stopping glass box Napalai Ballroom) overlooks the lush greenery of Lumpini Park. The statement ballroom, which will afford passers-by a glimpse of the goings-on inside, ‘gives the building a strong character’, says Lo-Chindapong.

The guest rooms themselves have 4m bay windows and daybeds that run the length of the room. The tones are muted rather than garish, dominated by natural wood, marble floors and a shade of mossy green, even found in the veins of some of the marble accents. The dedication to details includes an elongated hexagon pattern on the oak sliding doors that were lifted from the original hotel. The same shape is echoed in the hanging lampshades.

Much of the woodwork is made from interlocking wood panels using pa kon, the Thai craft of nailless carpentry akin to Japanese sashimono. The textile headboards reproduce elements from a mural that was a part of the original Benjarong restaurant.

The hotel is also a showcase for Thai artists. Witness the stunning 3.7m by 4.7m mural Dusit Samai by contemporary artist Sakon Malee that greets guests as they enter from the grand first-floor forecourt. Painted on a wood frame textured with cotton, clay and latex glue, the piece, the name of which means ‘Dusit and its time’, depicts scenes from the Buddhist tradition and from the life of the hotel. A closer examination of the lower right-hand corner of the piece reveals a grandmotherly silhouette, that of Thanphuying Chanut Piyaoui, the innovative founder of the hotel who passed away before the project was completed.

Dusit Thani Bangkok is located at 98 Rama IV Rd, Silom, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand, dusit.com

The Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024 has been revealed, highlighting 20 studios from around the world as some of the year's most exciting newcomers.

Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 24th edition.

Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios, from Australia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, the UK, the USA, with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024

Here are the 20 practices celebrated in this year's Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024 – spanning 19 countries and five continents.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Europe

Kasawoo, UK

London-based Kasawoo was founded by Kyriaki (Katie) Kasabalis and Darius Woo in 2020, after they met during their studies at Cornell University in the USA. Their studio was established with an aim to work on bringing great design to everyone. 'Early on in our practice, we discovered that good design was often out of reach for most people, and we made a commitment to change that. For us, good design does not need to come with a big price tag. That is why we set up our practice to bring this ethos to life,' they say.

This desire is combined with an approach that draws on a more ‘gentle’ architecture – minimalism, not through formal reduction, but rather through the efficiency of both design gestures and resources.

Brown Urbanism, UK

Richard Brown's Brown Urbanism was born some ten years ago, as a London-based architecture and urbanism design practice with a mission to 'create better places for people to inhabit that are inclusive, engaging and meaningful'. As part of this philosophy, the studio works on a range of typologies and scales, including commercial, residential, retail and hospitality; always with a focus on sustainable, low-cost, high-impact design.

'Simple, well-thought-through design that works for the client while creating distinctive and meaningful urban environments,' says Brown. 'We are interested in how design can better reflect, support and enable new ways of inhabiting and experiencing space. We are particularly interested in how the home can support the complexities of life’s requirements – from working from home and experiencing nature to treating the home as a performative cultural place.'

Mast, Denmark

Mast, founded in 2021 by Australian architect Marshall Blecher and Danish maritime designer and architect Magnus Maarbjerg, is on a mission to improve the relationship between the city and the sea. 'We are motivated by the amazing potential that comes from reconnecting with water, as we have seen the amazing effect that even small improvements to water access and quality can produce in cities,' Blecher explains.

Specialising in architecture on or near water, the duo have completed several small structures floating around Copenhagen harbour. There is the 20 sq m tiny prototype floating island KBHØ1 (KBH for Copenhagen and Ø for island) with its 6m tall Linden tree; and the portable ‘harbour bath’, or Dyppezone, which can be freely moved around the city’s waterways, creating intimate bathing experience along its way.

Studio Argus, Estonia

Architect Margit Argus brings more than 20 years of experience in interior design, fine arts, and architecture to her young and fast-emerging architecture studio. The practice, based in Tallinn, is rooted in a Nordic aesthetic, bringing together local Estonian vernacular and a fine attention to detail. Current projects include a seaside hotel in Tallinn, a high-rise residential building, and a university campus in Tallinn, alongside a handful of schools and single-family houses.

Studio Collaboratorio, Finland

Young Helsinki practice Studio Collaboratorio was founded in 2016 by Finnish architect Kristiina Kuusiluoma and Italian architect Martino De Rossi. The dynamic, emerging practice aims to 'create beautiful habitats by using natural and ecological materials while at the same time paying close attention to the place and its history: more beauty, communality, affordability and humanity! Interactive cooperation, profound ecology and long life cycle are at the heart of everything.'

Branco del Rio, Portugal

Founded by Paula del Rio and João Branco, the architecture studio Branco del Rio is based in the riverfront city of Coimbra, Portugal’s former capital. Motivated by curiosity and influenced by the ever-changing city around them, the architects view each project as an opportunity to investigate different contexts and topics. Gathering inspiration from their travels, books and colleagues the team say: ‘We are convinced that what we do can improve quality of life. We live and work in spaces we designed, we share spaces we designed with friends. It is a privilege and also a motivation.’

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Asia

Playball Studio, India and Spain

Established in 2017, Playball Studio is an Indo-Spanish architecture firm led by architects Celia Fernández Duque and Ronak Gangdev. Based in Rajkot, India, and Valladolid, Spain, the studio works on a range of uniquely contextual residential and commercial projects, often within urban conditions.

The word ‘Playball’ reflects the studio’s philosophy of always ‘playing ball’ and prioritising the needs of its clients. Fernández Duque and Gangdev are also conscious of the impact of their projects on the physical environment. The studio’s core strength lies in striking a harmonious balance between the organic and the technical, simplicity and refinement, and form and functionality.

Tsing-Tien Making, China

Suzhou-born Freja Bao's studio, Tsing-Tien Making (TTM), was founded following the architect's education in London's Bartlett School of Architecture and stints in Japan, in the offices of KPF Architects and Kengo Kuma & Associates. Bao set up her independent practice in her home town in 2023 and has been going from strength to strength since.

'As a collective deeply passionate about architecture, we at Tsing-Tien Making thrive on embracing challenges and infusing each project with innovative experimentation,' she says. Beyond her first completed project, featured here, Bao adds that there's more to come: 'Our focus extends to a range of exciting undertakings, including the development of a retirement house, the restoration of a scientist’s former residence, and the conceptualisation of a private collector’s room.'

L Architects, Singapore

Boutique studio L Architects was founded in 2016 by Lim Shing Hui. Based in Singapore, the practice focuses on creating homes that enhance the living experience. ‘Architecture has the power to evoke a wide range of emotions within us. You have to find the soul of the space,’ says Lim. ‘The search [for this] is what keeps me motivated. I believe that a good piece of architecture has the ability to touch the human soul, communicate messages, stir empathy and at the same time quietly delight – and this in itself transcends mere physical realms.’

The studio also believes it is important to stay rooted in its culture, in particular the experiences, cultural background and personal journey of its founder, allowing this to inform the shape and unique style of each residential design, giving it a distinct authorship.

Studio Heech, South Korea

Working across a range of creative fields that encompass architecture, industrial design, furniture, and interactive performance installation, Studio Heech welcomes multi-layered, rich experiences. Meanwhile, ‘the craftsmanship of “making things” is still important in the 21st century,’ says Park. With a keen eye for detail, the studio strives to create its contemporary architectural expression through techniques that bridge technology and traditional manufacturing – ultimately addressing the fundamentals of urban architecture.

Championing both the traditional and the contemporary, the studio often creates intriguing architectural forms. As with many forward-thinking practices, Studio Heech integrates sustainability into its work. From planning through to construction, Park makes sure to collaborate with a wide network of engineers, artists and craftsmen to broaden ideas and spark curiosity within the creative process.

Touch Architect, Thailand

Based in the bustling Thai hub of Bangkok, Touch Architect crafts residences drawing on its cultural ties and environment, while adding sustainable architecture practices. When approaching a project, the duo applies a 'bottom-up approach’, meaning they focus on the functionality of the space before layering on aesthetics. ‘For us, good architecture must be functional, timeless, and sustainable,’ they say. ‘While beauty and aesthetics are also important, it comes as an enhancement which completes the architecture. Great architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis I Kahn inspire this philosophy in our work.’

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Africa

Fleury Atallah Architectes, Tunisia

Fleury Atallah Architectes is one of the exciting emerging architecture practices to be included in the annual Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024. Founded in 2011 by Catherine Fleury and Chacha Atallah, it has offices in Toulon, France and Carthage, Tunisia. The studio focuses mainly on residential projects for private clients who are after a sensitive, sober and context-specific approach as well as inventive and beautiful solutions to architectural and interior challenges; but it has also designed art galleries and wine production facilities.

SI.SA. Nigeria

African culture motivates Lagos-based architecture firm SI.SA. ‘We are influenced by the abstracted forms found in African traditional art and their ability to convey power and meaning,' says founder Seun Oduwole.

Founded in 2015, the ten-person firm aims 'to make beautiful buildings that enhance the built environment’. Dedicated to the betterment of communities, SI.SA focuses on inclusive and socially responsible architectural designs. Boasting a diverse portfolio of residential, educational, and cultural projects, the practice has worked on some impressive projects, such as the colourful John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History in Lagos.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Americas

AD-WO, USA

Ethiopia-born Emanuel Admassu and Australia-born Jen Wood formed AD-WO in New York in 2015. The young art and architecture studio brings together their 'divergent' backgrounds to create valuable 'friction' within their practice – which, combined with their agility and multi-disciplinary approach, gives them a distinct edge when it comes to crafting works that are 'transnational' and experimental. The portfolio of the research-based studio spans from images and objects to furniture, tapestries, installations, and buildings.

Studio Porto, Brazil

The emerging practice of Camila Porto stands out through its contemporary fusion of Brazilian culture with a cosmopolitan attitude. Studio Porto's projects are intended to be timeless, balanced, and hospitable, Porto explains – but functionality is equally paramount. Attention to detail, empathy, and integration with nature are also strengths.

'Our greatest influence is Brazilian modernism, which brings with it a legacy of architectural solutions guided by simplicity and elegance. We combine this foundation with a contemporary and global perspective, integrating elements of nature and prioritising people's wellbeing. This combination of values shapes our approach uniquely and innovatively in architecture and design,' Porto explains.

TigerQi Architecture, British Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis

Lavina Liburd started TigerQi Architecture in 2013, having previously worked at different firms and gained experience on a wealth of projects, from transportation and civic briefs to luxury residences and commercial buildings. With this under her belt, Liburd set up shop on her own, with a focus on a contemporary design approach that embraces simplicity and minimalism.

Due to the climate and topography of its secluded Caribbean home, the practice centres on three key principles; creating healthy buildings that support the social health and wellbeing of its clients; embracing hillside living to maximise views and light; and creating architecture that is designed to serve its community as a whole. These underlying principles are threaded into the studio's design process, wrapped up in a tropical modernism aesthetic.

Svima, Canada

Starting Svima five years ago, Anamarija Korolj and Leon Lai, looked towards nature and ecology. During our era of mass construction, the studio fine-tunes its mission by focusing on three key pillars: air, light and greenery. With this in mind, their designs draw on the blossoming biomes of Canada, while balancing a human-centric approach, ensuring that the client receives a design that provides ample access to nature. The studio's portfolio brings together a series of schemes that nod towards creating a more equitable and sustainable future.

Seeing themselves as ‘not only as designers of buildings but as stewards of human experience’, Korolj and Lai seek to unite art and architecture to ‘continuously leverage the two mediums as vehicles with a reciprocal relationship in pushing the boundaries of the visual and spatial expressions.’ The creative duo strives to implement projects with a sense of place, resilience and inclusivity, ‘reflecting the essence of what it means to be Canadian.’

Büro Koray Duman, USA

This agile New York and Istanbul architecture practice – Büro Koray Duman – was founded by architect Koray Duman in 2014. The studio is a proudly immigrant- and LGBTQ-led business, comprising a team of architects that represent a diverse mix of nationalities and experiences. As a result, its output is equally varied and captivating - from projects for MoMA PS1 Museum, to the Finnish Cultural Institute NY, the Noguchi Museum, IKSV, artist Richard Prince, the American Society for Muslim Advancement, Council for Fashion Designers of America, and Design Within Reach.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Oceania

Alexander Symes, Australia

Architect Alexander Symes founded his namesake practice in 2014 with a vision to challenge the current status quo in sustainability in architecture, pushing and challenging the field's boundaries. With a ‘hands-on’ approach and a speciality in delivering passive homes that don't impact their context negatively, the practice aims to create residential design with a purpose.

‘On a macro level, this ensures we contribute to protecting biodiversity and providing a future-proofed housing stock,’ says Symes, ‘while on a micro level providing a healthy and resilient home for our clients in the changing climate.’ With this in mind, it is arguably only natural that the environment would be the studio’s biggest influence. Keeping context and nature at the forefront of its decisions, the practice enjoys working with bio-based construction and existing materials and suppliers. The result is buildings with a natural feel and a reduced carbon footprint.

Spacecraft Architects, New Zealand

Spacecraft Architects founders Roberston and Gittos often tackle limited budgets and the smaller scale in their work – a challenge they enjoy taking on to make architecture more accessible. Their own headquarters is nestled off the back of a self-built house in Whanganui, and is a clear representation of the studio's ethos.‘ The constraints offered by tight budgets and difficult (affordable) sites breed creativity and drive our design work,’ the creative duo told Wallpaper*.

With an interest in buildings that do not rely on luxurious materials or highly detailed construction, the pair hope to create powerful architecture even within the simplest structures. Working on infill housing across New Zealand opened up a niche for a wealth of recent work focused on the rising appeal of co-housing, in various forms of multi-residential projects and apartment builds.

Touch Architect was founded in Thailand by architects Setthakarn Yangderm and Parpis Leelaniramol - and the studio has now joined the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024, our annual listing of emerging practices across the world.

Touch unites simple materials and ‘ordinary’ structures to create residences that are aesthetically striking, yet highly functional. Villa Backyard is a perfect example of its work, featuring an eye-catching triangular structural exterior which visually defines the home. It opens up into a crisp, minimal and pragmatic interior setting.

Who: Touch Architect

Based in the bustling Thai hub of Bangkok, Touch Architect crafts residences drawing on its cultural ties and environment, while adding sustainable architecture practices. When approaching a project, the duo applies a 'bottom-up approach’, meaning they focus on the functionality of the space before layering on aesthetics. ‘For us, good architecture must be functional, timeless, and sustainable,’ they say. ‘While beauty and aesthetics are also important, it comes as an enhancement which completes the architecture. Great architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis I. Kahn inspire this philosophy in our work.’

Implementing this strategy across their projects, commercial or private, the architects aim to design for ‘real users’ thinking about efficient interiors and ergonomic design, while taking on client preferences and programmatic functions so that each project becomes unique in its own way. Collaboration also influences the practice, yet it's something that can present challenges, the team admits - as well as opportunities. Navigating the complexities of human relationships across all stages of a project requires constant communication, negotiation, and collaboration. Yet amidst this, new ideas that make projects richer often emerge.

What: Villa Backyard

Nestled in an eastern Bangkok suburb, Villa Backyard lays on flat terrain overlooking an artificial pond. Its façade was conceived with this context in mind, as the home's triangular shape was designed to help rainwater run off it and merge with the pond water, encouraging biodiversity to flourish. The solution developed from an initial simple cube structure which was then cross-sectioned to provide the largest slanted surface that would act as both roof and vehicle for draining water.

Inside, an open-plan interior comprises dining and socialising areas, as well as sleeping quarters with the option for the last to extend if needed. One bedroom faces the water, taking in a sweeping panoramic view of the green context. The main entry into the home is set under the roof's highest point, creating an open and welcoming entrance sequence. The living room and bedrooms are located under the slope, offering shade and cosiness, while guiding the eye towards the views.

The steel-framed structure is topped by an asphalt shingle roof. This lightweight material made for easy installation while also being durable and providing lots of thick shade. A terrace with steel grating also allows rainwater to trickle into the pond. Matching the exterior, the interior feels pared down, in an elegant, utilitarian and contemporary way.

Why: Wallpaper* Architects Directory

Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 24th edition. Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios from Australia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, the UK, the USA, with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.

toucharchitect.com

Beautiful swimming pools are a major draw for those hunting for their next vacation spot. This is something high-end hotels know all too well, bringing in expert architects to design aquatic marvels that reflect each property’s aesthetic and sit harmoniously in the surrounding environment. Amidst a plethora of stunning options around the world, we have put together some of our favourite outdoor hotel pools – jump in.

15 of the best outdoor hotel pools to book now

137 Pillars Suites Bangkok

137 Pillars House is one of Chiang Mai’s most awarded hotels; its city-slick sister, on the top eight floors of a sparkling skyscraper in Bangkok, follows suit. The brand’s 18th-century heritage is kept in rocking chairs on each of the 34 suites’ private balconies, the ground-level Bangkok Trading Post café, and the handsome Jack Bain’s bar named after one of the Company’s most distinguished managers. But this is a decidedly modern escape, with walk-in wardrobes and five-fixture marble bathrooms, a spa and wellness centre offering aerial yoga and Reiki classes. Not one but two sky-high infinity pools may feel far removed from the city, but a glass floor looks dizzyingly down to the private driving ranges on the sixth-floor terrace, cleverly linking the hotel to the world below.

137 Pillars Suites Bangkok is located at 59/1 Sukhumvit 39, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

7132 Hotel

Therme Vals was completed in 1996. Almost three decades on, Peter Zumthor’s genre-defining spa in the Swiss canton of Graubünden remains a place of pilgrimage for architecture enthusiasts the world over. Half buried in the hillside and constructed using local Valser quartzite slabs, the hotel itself was renamed 7132 Hotel under new ownership in 2012, and while the property continues to undergo changes and developments, the baths remain blissfully untouched, as ageless and enduring as the mountains around them. Carefully positioned gaps in
the ceiling and walls flood the hotel’s indoor pool with shafts of light. Upstairs, a grass-roofed outdoor
pool is complete with a sunbathing terrace.

7132 Hotel is located at Poststrasse 560, 7132 Vals, Switzerland

Amangiri

Tucked within a canyon in Utah, Amangiri’s pool could be a glimmering mirage in the heat of the dust. Fortunately, its beauty is not a figment of imagination, and the mesa-embracing pool echoes the tranquillity of the canyons. Born from the collaboration between award-winning architects Marwan Al-Sayed, Wendell Burnette, and Rick Joy, Amangiri sits low within the untouched red-rock desert landscape and is blissfully at one with its native context. Its water pavilion also offers a steam room, sauna, plunge pool and heated step pool to cool off under the western sun. The resort offers 34 contemporary suites and has a camp of 10 tented pavilions to act as a base for any mountainous expeditions.

Amangiri is located at 1 Kayenta Rd, Canyon Point, UT 84741, United States

Amankila

Amankila, which translates to ‘peaceful hill’ in Sanskrit and is extraordinarily situated on a dense hillside beneath sacred Mount Agung, has been the go-to spirit-lifting sanctuary in Eastern Bali since its opening in 1992. The resort’s distinct tiered infinity swimming pool, also the work of the late American architect and furniture designer Ed Tuttle, sees three pools cascading down to one another, akin to Bali’s terraced rice fields, that blend with the vast expanse of the blue horizon that awaits in front. The design takes inspiration from the nearby Taman Ujung water palace, which sees three large ponds connected by elegant bridges and pathways. Amankila’s large 41-meter turquoise-tiled lap pool is equally alluring, found at the sun-kissed private black-sand Beach Club and nestled amidst tall coconut palms and frangipani trees.

Amankila is located at Manggis, Karangasem Regency, Bali 80871, Indonesia

Cali Mykonos

Situated on the serene cliff front that embraces Kalafatis Beach, far away from the bustling Old Town nightlife, the whitewashed hotel Cali Mykonos draws immediate attention with its 130-metre infinity pool, which elegantly winds around to mimic a neighbouring stream’s curvature. Filled with solar-powered heating panels and fresh seawater drawn directly from the Aegean Sea, Cali’s aquatic tour-de-force furthers the hotel’s integration into the landscape – its water being equally crystalline as the private port’s below. The pool, like the hotel’s main building and villas, is the work of Athens-based architectural firm STFN Lab and combines traditional Cycladic architecture with natural landscape features. As such, it boasts natural marble and stone sourced from the original property excavation. Guests can enjoy the most natural swim alongside the pool bars, which boast mythology-inspired cocktail menus.

Cali Mykonos is located at Mykonos 846 00, Greece

Capella Ubud

Inspired by the first European settlers in Bali in the early 1800s, Capella Ubud remains true to the concept of a rainforest camp by providing 22 one-bedroom tents and a two-bedroom lodge nestled within lush forest terrain with traditional sloping rice terraces. Famed American landscape architect Bill Bensley, the creative force behind the project, ensured that no trees were cut during construction, preserving the camp as a secluded sanctuary boasting maximised jungle views. Despite each guest space featuring individual saltwater pools, Capella Ubud’s crown jewel is The Cistern, a vast amenity presenting a 360-degree panoramic view of the Keliki Valley. The pool, shaped like a rainwater reservoir, comprises marine-grade steel plates, which had to be transported manually to the site due to their 100-kilo weight.

Capella Ubud is located at Jl. RY Dalem, Keliki, Kec. Tegallalang, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80561, Indonesia

La Co(o)rniche

At La Co(o)rniche, the Atlantic does most of the talking. Philippe Starck’s 2010 renovation kept the bones of a 1930s neo-Basque hunting lodge – dark timber, frescoes, old Arcachon manners – then loosened it with cabins that borrow from Cap Ferret’s oyster huts. Set between pine forest, sand and the Dune du Pilat, the hotel’s pool frames the Arcachon basin, suspending guests between water and sky.

La Co(o)rniche is located at 46 Av. Louis Gaume, 33115 La Teste-de-Buch, France

Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo

At Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo, luxury comes with topography. Set within a 1,200-hectare private reserve on Mexico’s Pacific coast, the resort is arranged along jungle, cliffs and shorelines, with 157 rooms, three cascading infinity pools and an oceanfront golf course. Architects Victor Legorreta, Mauricio Rocha and Mario Schjetnan treated the land with discipline, placing architecture along the contours 300ft above the sea. In the spa, Oaxacan red clay, volcanic stone and a found boulder turn wellness into ritual.

Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo is located at La Huerta, K, México 200 Manzana 7.5, 48898 Barra de Navidad, Jal., Mexico

Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como

The ethereal beauty of Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como, has long been perceived as infinite, much like its recently introduced heated outdoor swimming pool and sun deck, which float over the lake’s cinematic southeast shores. Designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, the 40-meter pool elegantly sits against a lower vaulted stone colonnade, featuring a dark local Cardoso sandstone finish and prefabricated steel structure that reflects the water’s cobalt-blue surface. Here, the hotel’s casual dining venue, Nami Café, offers a laid-back poolside menu of classic Italian al fresco lunches, complemented by refreshing cocktails and freshly prepared juices – all set against the original 19th-century stone arches of the building, once the home of celebrated Italian opera singer Giuditta Pasta.

Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como is located at Via E. Caronti, 69, 22020 Blevio CO, Italy

Miramonti Boutique Hotel

The panoramic view from the Miramonti Boutique Hotel’s outdoor infinity pool is among the region’s most spectacular. From its cliff-edge perch overlooking the sleepy town of Merano, mountain chains unfold in all directions. The pool is just the first in a sequence of alfresco wellness stops. A trail winds up the hill through the pine forest, and along it guests can find a plunge pool, sauna hut, lounge chairs and, at the top, a heated pool, each with a sweeping view of the valley. Recent architectural and interior redesigns, including the guest rooms, the Onsen Pool, and the ground-floor renovations, were led by Heike Pohl and Andreas Zanier of the Merano-based firm Tara Architects

Miramonti Boutique Hotel is located at Via S. Caterina, 14, 39010 Avelengo BZ, Italy

Nekajui Peninsula Papagayo, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Nekajui Peninsula Papagayo, the first Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Central America, and only the eighth in the world, stretches over 570 hectares of lush cliffside, but if you gaze up towards it from the sapphire waters below, you can barely tell it’s there at all. The development of Nekajui was led by The Athens Group, who worked with architects from Gensler and 10 Design to create a property that never looks out of place in its majestic surroundings. The 107 rooms and 37 residences spread across the property all face the ocean and are reliably spacious, with even the most modestly sized Ocean Reserve rooms measuring in at 872 square feet. The infinity pool at the Nimbu Spa offers panoramic ocean views and creates the sensation of swimming in the air.

Nekajui Peninsula Papagayo, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve is located at Peninsula Papagayo, End of the 253 National Route, Provincia de Guanacaste, Liberia, 50104, Costa Rica

Our Habitas AlUla

Waking up to an impressive view takes on a new meaning at Our Habitas AlUla. Being right at the centre of Ashar Valley in Saudi Arabia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the property ensures the immense beauty of the natural world and the dramatic splendour of human creations from every angle – its swimming pool flaunting front-row views of the golden sand stretches and rocky outcrops that emerge from the desert’s expanse. Despite having been a hub of trade and cultural exchange for millennia, AlUla, often likened to an open-air museum, is a brand-new tourism destination. This is why the in-house Our Habitas design team (with the help of global firm Aedas) was tasked with creating Habitas’ distinctive social architecture, bringing guest experiences and human connections to life. Bathing in an ancient desert valley might not be on everyone’s bucket list, but after discovering this property, it certainly will be.

Our Habitas AlUla is located at QV65+RH3, Ashar Valley, AlUla 43511, Saudi Arabia

Reschio

Reschio, a 3,700-acre pastoral estate with a 1,000-year-old castle at its core, has long observed the twists and turns of history from the passage of pilgrims to world wars. Today, following a transformation by architect Count Benedikt Bolza and his wife Donna Nencia, it stands as a boutique hotel, known for its star-studded guestbook full of names of those seeking an escape from Hollywood. Located in the heart of Umbria, a region known as the ‘green heart’ of Italy, Reschio is well at home within its context. Its outdoor pool poses as a lake and seamlessly reflects the surrounding greenery, making it a tranquil spot to dip into. Opposite the old watch tower, it has been converted into a refreshing poolside bar offering tempting gelato and freshly made cocktails.

Reschio is located at Tabaccaia di Reschio, 06060 Lisciano Niccone PG, Italy

The Retreat at Blue Lagoon

Located on a private inlet of the titular lagoon, The Retreat at Blue Lagoon was designed by Basalt Architects and Design Group Italia as an extension of an earlier complex, creating a natural transition that blends a concrete superstructure the colour of dark grey lava with terrazzo, sand, water features and moss. The 62 guestrooms feature a quietly rugged mood of walnut and lava surfaces that are dressed with pieces by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Urquiola – though the marquee attraction has to be the private blue lagoon pools and spa, a subterranean pleasure dome of interlocking chambers cut into the volcanic rock that offers treatments based on the silica, algae and minerals of geothermal seawater.

The Retreat at Blue Lagoon is located at Norðurljósavegur 11, 241 Grindavík, Iceland

Le Sirenuse

The swimming pool at Le Sirenuse, a family-run boutique hotel in the beautiful coastal town of Positano, Italy, is akin to a swimming pool of dreams. In 2024, as part of the hotel’s ongoing site-specific commission series, art advisor Silka Rittson-Thomas asked Swiss artist Nicolas Party, best known for his abstract interpretations of familiar landscapes, portraits and still lifes that are both fluid and vibrant, to thoroughly transform the poolside terrace in time for the summer season. The result? An immersive and playful space where organic forms intertwine and dance underwater. Party’s work, a lively aquascape made of Bisazza mosaics – a choice instructed per the wishes of the hotel’s co-owners, Antonio and Carla Sersale, to honour Antonio’s late father’s vision – is a joyful reinterpretation of the location’s distinctive view of the sea and mountains.

Le Sirenuse is located at Via Cristoforo Colombo, 30, 84017 Positano SA, Italy

In partnership with ISF Group

A blend of modern luxury, natural harmony and private paradise, the Crescent Bay Beachfront Villas development, in Phuket Island’s south-eastern Cape Panwa, is the work of Bangkok-based architect Duangrit Bunnag. Exemplifying modern residential architecture with a focus on the seamless integration of indoor and outdoor spaces, each of the six Crescent Bay houses is inspired by the unique natural surroundings of Panwa Beach. ‘We tailored every detail to harmonise with the surrounding environment, ensuring a bespoke experience that embraces the essence of Panwa Beach,’ says Bunnag.

Inside Crescent Bay Beachfront Villas, Phuket Island

Clever use of natural light in the homes’ interiors means spaces feel open and flowing, without boundaries. Two of the villas are located directly on the beachfront, while the remaining four offer stunning sea views, with the bright Phuket light flooding in from both the front and rear, allowing residents to feel at one with their surroundings and immersed in nature.

Bunnag meticulously selected each material and architectural element inside the villas, along with the expansive glass panels that span from floor to ceiling and edge to edge, to ensure that each component complements the overall aesthetic, enhances functionality, and adds to the sense of connection with the location.

The complex’s architectural landscaping is composed with the same exceptional attention to detail, with trees carefully planned and planted to nurture a bond between residents and nature, enriching the residents’ quality of life.

A mountainous, forested, teardrop-shaped mass off the west coast of mainland Thailand, Phuket Island is bounded by the turquoise waters of the Andaman Sea and blessed with some of Southeast Asia’s most beautiful beaches, making it a highly sought-after destination. It’s also home to towering limestone cliffs, mangrove forests, and dozens of bays with clear waters. The postcard-worthy panoramas are bolstered by a distinctive cultural heritage and a growing crop of premium restaurants and resorts.

Strategically located, Crescent Bay Beachfront Villas are just a 15-minute drive from Phuket town and approximately one hour from Phuket International Airport. Within easy reach are educational institutions, healthcare facilities, shopping centres and hotels.

There are three Crescent Bay Beachfront styles available, ranging from 900 to 1,700 sq m, from four to six bedrooms, and on plots of 900 to 2,800 sq m. Each clean, modernist design presents an opportunity for discerning buyers and investors to secure a piece of this waterfront property courtesy of Thailand’s ISF Group. A conglomerate with interests in real estate, textiles, retail, and hospitality, ISF’s luxury real estate portfolio also includes Somerset Sukhumvit Thonglor Bangkok serviced apartments and Hyatt House Bangkok Asoke hotel.

‘The Crescent Bay Beachfront Villas development is more than just luxury property; it’s a testament to our commitment to excellence and innovation in real estate development,’ says Anand Singhsachathet, director of ISF Group. ‘By enhancing quality of life through thoughtful design and premium amenities, we are proud to offer an unparalleled living experience that sets a new benchmark for beachfront living in Phuket. This development is not just a property investment, but a lifestyle investment that promises a harmonious blend of comfort, elegance, and natural beauty for those who seek the ultimate in luxury living.’

crescentbayphuket.com

Jewellery designer Patcharavipa Bodiratnangkura indulges a love of texture and geometric forms in jewellery for her eponymous brand. Jewellery handcrafted in her native Thailand – where she has a Bangkok Patchravipa store designed by French architects Ciguë – epitomises her daring design. 

Patcharavipa’s new gold jewellery

In previous Patcharavipa collections, we have seen diamond checkerboard rings and minute watches worn on the finger, as well as imperfect chains and tactile hair jewellery. 

Now, Bodiratnangkura is inspired by texture and optical illusions for new designs. Crafted from Thai gold – which she calls Siam gold – pieces from the ‘Blur/Mirage’ collection, for example, feature a finish that is left raw and textured throughout. 

‘This season we were really inspired by our travels between London and Paris –specifically with the pastries,’ says Bodiratnangkura of the playful new forms. ‘From Lisboa café in London with their Cat Tongue, to Parisienne local boulangeries and their canelés and éclairs… we just love a great pastry at any time of the day.’

The ripples on a croissant and the swirl of a choux pastry are rethought here in the signature gold, making for undulating rings and necklaces. Proportions are oversized, with loops of gold circling the finger multiple times, and thickly drawn angled earrings bringing volume to an ear curation. 

They join gold-plated cigarette lighters that cut web-like silhouettes. ‘Playing with objects that we use every day was the idea. These specific lighter cases are only made for the small plastic BIC brand; what a fun idea to mix fine and cheaper materials,’ adds Bodiratnangkura.

patcharavipa.com

The Aman cabana pop-up shop is part of the 35th-anniversary celebrations of the leader in discreet luxurious getaways. The hospitality brand commissioned Luxury Frontiers, an architectural design firm from South Africa and the US, to create an eco-conscious mobile retail concept that is first popping up at Amanpuri in Phuket, Thailand.

First Aman cabana pop-up shop arrives in Thailand

The idea is simple but effective. It involves an elegant, mobile pop-up shop that can be moved around different Aman properties while maintaining the brand’s distinct identity. The cabana, which is pre-manufactured, can be assembled and disassembled within 12 hours without specialised equipment or skills; this makes it an easy project to test in different locations. Following the trial in Amanpuri, the tents will move to Amangiri in spring 2024 and Amanzoe in 2025, with an interchangeable roof design to reflect each geographical setting.

The venture will allow Aman to showcase bespoke products from each region in the same space, making it feel unique yet on-brand wherever it pops up. Aman Essentials, the group’s own shopping line, comprises luxury skincare products, Italian leather bags and accessories and fragrances. An addition to the group’s existing shopping areas within each resort, the cabana trial facilitates a more enriching experience in touch with nature, allowing guests to shop in the sun beside the water, for example.

Modular design, such as that used for the Aman cabana, is an eco-friendly, non-invasive solution that minimises heavy construction, offering a transformative approach to developing experiential accommodations such as resorts, lodges, and camps. It provides flexibility while significantly reducing environmental impact. When the Aman cabana is no longer needed as a retail space, it can easily be repurposed as a kids’ play area, dining pavilion or similar structure without changes to the original design.

aman.com

The rich history of Thailand’s Lanna Kingdom is celebrated in the new InterContinental Chiang Mai The Mae Ping Hotel, designed by Thai-based firm PIA Interior.

Located at the heart of Northern Thailand, the building is the conversion of the esteemed Imperial Mae Ping Hotel. ‘Converting the existing property into this new hotel was an exciting and complex process. Our main goal was to convey the story of Lanna through our design language,’ says senior designer at PIA Interior Panan Pechpool.

InterContinental Chiang Mai The Mae Ping Hotel honours the history of Thailand’s Lanna Kingdom

‘As visitors enter through the grand entrance doors, they will be greeted by harmonious gong sounds,’ notes the general manager of the hotel, Peter Pottinga. These chimes are a nod to the abutting Wat Chang Kong temple built by the local gong community over 600 years ago.

The hotel’s interior is a masterful homage to Lanna’s craftsmanship, with its slick bamboo panels, impressive lacquered wood items, and intricate metal detailing. ‘We drew inspiration from traditional Northern Thai furniture, murals, and techniques,’ states Pechpool. Here, white and gold hues are paired with alluring grey, black, and green accents, which add depth to the light-filled spaces.

The property has 240 rooms, and guests have views of the majestic Doi Suthep mountain, access to Chiang Mai’s bustling night market, and are a short walk away from the historic 13th-century Tha-Pae Gate. The restaurants and bars at the InterContinental Chiang Mai promise a rich Northern Thai experience with their delectable dishes and curated cocktails.

On the 16th floor, Hong’s Chinese Restaurant and Sky Bar serve exotic Asian meals alongside a Teresa Teng tea ceremony, which is a tribute to the famous Taiwanese singer who once frequented the hotel. As you venture around the building, a swimming pool, fitness centre, spa, event spaces, and magnificent Grand Ballroom for weddings, social celebrations, and corporate functions can all be found across various levels.

InterContinental Chiang Mai The Mae Ping is a blissful sanctuary that blends luxury with Southeast Asian culture, oozing opulence. PIA Interior has sensitively refreshed the existing building with immaculate attention to detail. ‘While many buildings remain stagnant, the Imperial Mae Ping has now been reborn,’ says Pechpool.

Championing the Lanna Kingdom, the InterContinental Chiang Mai The Mae Ping Hotel is a chance to connect with traditional Thai heritage in luxurious style.

chiangmai.intercontinental.com

When Boonserm Premthada designed Back of the House, he knew he wanted a structure that would work hard – a 'house that is more than a home', he says. The result is the Thai architect and founder of Bangkok Project Studio's own residence, and a piece of architecture that proudly celebrates a typically unseen part of a house, the oft-hidden imperfections of wall structure. Interestingly, he explains, it is also only ‘50 per cent designed’.

Back of the House: an exercise in 50% design

Premthada’s intriguing proposition revolves around the idea of taking the surroundings into account, and finding value in every site's environment, while exercising restraint in terms of when to stop designing. 'The 50 per cent design idea focuses on cutting a building by half and giving the other half to nature, the environment, existing contexts, phenomena, humans, and other living beings to fulfil and balance,' the architect says. 

In this particular design, the impact of his approach was four-fold. Spaces within were designed to be flexible in their usage. For instance, the central hall doubles as a gym, workshop and meeting room, ensuring everything works but can fit in a much smaller footprint. Building only half of what you could also results in big cost savings, and 'living in a building that is not “complete” means that there’s room for creation in the future'. 

By leveraging natural resources in terms of power consumption – working with the region's wind, light and creating shade for ventilation and climate control – makes for more sustainable architecture, as the mechanical support needed is minimal. And finally, the design takes advantage of what is offered around it, embracing, for example, the trees in neighbouring gardens when planning vistas. 

The structure comprises three floors. The ground and first floors are home for Premthada and his extended family, which includes seven members and three generations. The top floor is his studio. Both uses have terraces and courtyards where residents can enjoy the fresh air. 

Large openings within and the flexibility of space mean there are plenty of views through and across floors, and residents feel connected – both between the spaces and with the outdoors – at every turn. At the same time, privacy was reserved for the sleeping quarters, where users can relax in solitude if they so wish.

The façade's distinctive textured skin is another Premthada experiment, where the architect allowed the mortar between blocks to overflow visibly, giving the home the impression of a layered cake, rich with cream filling. He says: 'This side of the wall [the one where the mortar overflows] is usually hidden, never seen from the front. Here, we did the opposite by bringing it to the external wall of the building. Not only will the overflowing mortar create light and shadow on the wall, but it also helped us align bricks of different sizes on the same, even plane. My experiences from previous brick projects help me understand the nature of brick and mortar.'

The bricks, meanwhile, were created specifically for the project out of fly ash, a by-product of a coal-fired power plant, mixed with cement, which reduces the overall amount of cement used in their production. It also means that the bricks set without firing in a kiln. This clever reuse, not only makes the bricks especially lightweight yet strong, but it also means they do not expand and shrink like regular kiln-baked bricks. This allows the insertion of steel rods, for stronger, earthquake-resistant walls. Premthada used eight types of these bricks, which were water-cured and air-dried for 14 days. The overflowing mortar helps negotiate the variation in sizes and shapes he gets during their making. 

'This home where we live and work brings the family closer,' Premthada says. 'My house does not represent achievements, but reminds me of my roots. It is a place where one can reflect upon oneself, continually improving oneself as a human being. For me, adversity is the drive that helps me create works that are truly myself. Too much comfort weakens motivation. Back of the House is not just a house; it's our life.'

bangkokprojectstudio.co 

InJoy Snow Hotel Bangkok by HAS design and research brings together its owner's Thai and French heritage in a building that bridges cultures and spatial experiences. Blending images of snowy French landscapes with the Bangkok urban condition, and adding notions of sustainable architecture and restoration, the architecture studio came up with the concept of 'Thai Snow', explain its co-directors, Jenchieh Hung and Kulthida Songkittipakdee, who were part of the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2022. 

InJoy Snow Hotel Bangkok by HAS design and research

InJoy Snow Hotel Bangkok works with the city's microclimate and an existing building to transform the site into a haven of 21st century urban hospitality and minimalist architecture. A perimeter of folding perforated aluminum panels creates a kind of architectural 'veil', gently separating the building from the street's bustle, while creating privacy for the users. It is a gesture the pair of architects has used before in their own home and studio, Phetkasem Artist Studio, using transparencies, minimalism and perforation to play with ideas of light, permeability and seclusion. 

Here, Jencheh Hung and Songkittipakdee use the same methods to filter light and frame sightlines. Meanwhile, the ethereal presence of this screen is a nod to snowflakes. 

Inside, this is continued and reflected in the interior's fabric space dividers, in the form of curtains and a series of 'threads' hanging from the ceiling, which balance the tightrope between functional elements and sculptural pieces of art. A pared-down approach to decor is accentuated by the consistent use of the colour white, which helps compose a neutral canvas and calming backdrop for the guests. 

'InJoy Snow Hotel Bangkok takes sustainability as its philosophy, and the result is a distinctive new vernacular architecture,' write the architects. 'The perforated aluminium panels, introduce natural wind convection from the outside. The “threads”, which can block the western sun while maintaining visual transparency, and the movable fabric allows for a variety of guest room layouts. The building not only provides a respite from Bangkok's dense urban environment, but its snow-inspired concept contrasts with the surrounding environment, bringing visitors spiritual tranquility and ritual.'

hasdesignandresearch.com 

Two new offerings in Thailand, The Standard Bangkok and The Standard Hua Hin, have just celebrated their official opening as the newest additions to the global hospitality brand’s growing portfolio. Since its inception in 1999, The Standard has garnered international recognition as a pioneer in its sector. From its New York sites to its Maldives property, the hotel chain is known for curating world-class cultural experiences – and is now also putting its stylish stamp on the popular Asian destination. 

The Standard Bangkok

The Standard Bangkok is located in the monumental King Power Mahanakhon tower, designed by German architect Ole Scheeren, and is the brand's new flagship Asian getaway. Through the hotel's 155 rooms, designed by Jaime Hayon, and generous full-height windows, visitors can experience breathtaking views across the city among vibrant, characterful interiors. ‘The aim was to create something fresh and well-designed that has a beautiful colour palette,’ says the Spanish artist.

Entering the building, in a spacious lobby, elegant, handcrafted rattan light fittings delicately hang from above. ‘We spent months in Thailand working with local manufacturers,’ says Hayon. This level includes a shop stocking collaborations with local designers, while an artwork featuring a couple in a warm embrace is embedded in the floor.

Venture up the building via a psychedelic lift, to the flexible fourth-floor, and the Parlor is the hotel's main social hub. Here, guests can complete their check-in, attend events, or simply sit and listen to live music. Boasting organic arches, playful colours, and rounded edges, everything feels bespoke, from the door handles to the locally made furniture. The same approach continues throughout, juxtaposing the sharp geometries of the existing building with curves and softer forms.

A terrace pool, fitness centre, spa, and two restaurants, Mott 32 and The Standard Grill, can be found on the floors beyond. Reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film, ‘the building can be likened to a movie. Each space is a different scene. Each room evokes a different emotion,’ says Hayon. Perched on the 76th floor is Ojo, The Standard Bangkok’s spectacular Mexican-themed restaurant that serves up delectable Guadalajara-inspired cuisine. While at the apex of the 78-level building, a stellar viewpoint titled Sky Beach offers striking vistas of Bangkok.

The Standard Hua Hin

A departure from its bustling Bangkok counterpart, The Standard’s second Thai outpost is a blissful beach hideaway that overlooks the gulf of Thailand in Hua Hin – a short two-and-a-half hour trip from the capital. Designed by Bangkok-based architecture practice Onion, the cosy complex is made up of a series of organic volumes nestled in a rich green oasis. Bringing youthful energy to the local hotel scene, it blends brutalist elements, such as exposed aggregate, and white-washed wood, rattan and bamboo. 'These materials were carefully curated throughout the project to create a boho-chic vibe,’ says chief design officer at Standard International, Verena Haller.

A nod to The Standard Miami, with its quirky elements and midcentury aesthetic, the hotel features 199 guest rooms made up of suites and villas. Each space feels tranquil with its earthy tones, soft colour palette, and generous ceiling heights. Boasting an impressive spa with a variety of treatments to leave you fully refreshed, a humble-sized gym, and a vibrant pool, there are many opportunities here to relax the body and mind. ‘Our goal was to create a restful and restorative waterfront destination that simultaneously calms and stimulates the senses through innovative design,’ says Haller. 

The hotel includes an all-day dining location called the Lido, a Juice Café, and an authentic Thai food spot called Praça. ‘The Standard Hua Hin is a one-of-a-kind resort with best-in-class design, culinary, cultural programming, and service,’ says Haller. Located near the fishing town's centre, guests can easily visit local seafood restaurants, street stalls, and late-night markets – mixing global and local in true Standard style, which the brand plans to soon expand further afield, as more new resorts, in Lisbon, Milan and Singapore, are currently in the pipeline.  

standardhotels.com 

hayonstudio.com 

onion.co.th 

Wonderfruit 2022 recently wrapped up – and in the eight years since Pete Phornprapha launched the festival's first edition, back in 2014, the event has become a bona fide fixture on an already overcrowded Australasian festival circuit. Certainly, Wonderfruit has always had serious musical chops, luring a global Rolodex of bold-faced musicians to play in imaginatively constructed venues – the latter spread across 140 acres of land owned by Phornprapha’s family on the grounds of Pattaya’s Siam Country Club, a brisk two-hour drive south of Bangkok. But just as crucially, over the years, Wonderfruit’s MO has been finely tuned to a larger purpose: to explore what Phornprapha describes as the intersection between art and culture, music and nature. The better, goes the thinking, ‘to encourage, develop and innovate meaningful relationships with ourselves and nature’.

Wonderfruit 2022

For most of the 25,000 festival goers at the 2022 edition of the festival – back on the calendar after a two-year Covid-driven hiatus – the physical form of the event was the honey trap: once people were on the grounds, the eclectic programming would do the rest. For what really sets Wonderfruit 2022 apart from other cultural, dance and musical festivals such as Glastonbury and Burning Man is its canny mix of attractions. There’s something for everyone here – body language workshops, DYI dyeing and yoga, alongside live DJ sets, organic dining, and shamanic breathwork.

Phornprapha and his crack squad of architects, designers, chefs, musicians, artists, wellness practitioners and life coaches put together an event where architecture fiends were thrilled by the venues concocted by festival master-planner Ab Rogers. Together with a coterie of mainly Thai designers, the Lisbon-based architect created dozens of wonderful follies from sustainable, recycled materials – the collective forming a veritable micro-city. 

Artist Nanu Youttananukorn, for instance, updated a previous installation called Embrace – a cocoon of rammed earth wrapped around a fallen tree – with new columns cast from animal feed bags, and a soundtrack of Thai tribal music recorded by music curators Hear and Found; whilst Boonserm Premthada, fresh from his summer showing at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, fashioned Open Kitchen, a vast two-storey manse with no walls, made from timber rescued from an old tobacco factory. Rogers himself updated a slew of pavilions, including Bath House, a circular floating bamboo platform on which visitors sunned themselves at high noon, and the in-the-round Theatre of Feasts, a Mad Max-like dining hall made of bamboo, its raftered ceiling cut through like Rome’s Pantheon with a giant oculus. ‘Music is round,’ Rogers explained. ‘That’s why my structures here are round.’

Meanwhile, tall and loose-limbed, Phornprapha roamed the festival grounds on foot and on an electric bike, his gregarious, infectious energy feeding every conversation, whether his collaboration with rewilding experts SUGi to plant 20,000 trees to create Ancestral Forest, an actual, self-sustaining forest on a four-acre corner; how it’s important to build well with less; or how he’s trying to turn Wonderfruit into a 360-degree brand. ‘It’s important to have an ideology.’ On every metric, it’s an approach embraced with enthusiasm by all the designers, especially as the creative remit is so broad and upfront. As Premthada points out, ‘Pete is straightforward and genuinely interested in sustainability. It’s not just talk.’

‘Wonderfruit is a playground,’ Youttananukorn adds. ‘You get to try new ideas without any commercial pressure.’ For Nick Luscombe – founder of Tokyo-based sound artists MSCTY, who are releasing a double cassette-tape box set featuring music created for unbuilt structures and conceptual cities including Richard Rogers' Zip Up House and Daniel Libeskind's Theatrum Mundi – Wonderfruit has been the perfect partner. ‘We developed a soundtrack for the new Ancestral Forest. All of our sounds for our soundscape, streamed in little pods dotted among the trees, were recorded in the original Miyawaki forest in Yokohama. The idea is that these sounds start small and quiet and, as the forest grows, so too will the complexity of our piece.’ Much like, we think, Wonderfruit itself.

Wonderfruit ran 15 - 18 December 2022

The Fields at Siam Country Club, Pattaya, Thailand

wonderfruit.co 

MPavilion 2022 has opened to the public, launching today at Melbourne's Queen Victoria Gardens – and this year, it brings a splash of colour and an ethereal quality to the park's greenery, thanks to its bespoke design by Bangkok-based architecture studio All(zone), led by design director Rachaporn Choochuey. 

MPavilion 2022 by All(zone)

MPavilion 2022, under Choochuey's direction, is fun and engaging, while also bringing something new to the table – as it experiments with materials never before used in Australia. Conceived to celebrate the outdoors, as well as the idea of community and coming together, the structure features a distinctive canopy, made of fabric and expert tensile architecture. Part of the material is crafted from a cutting-edge STFE membrane supplied by French manufacturer Serge Ferrari, which is as transparent as glass but ten times lighter, its creators explain. Its use is a first for the country. 

'Working on the MPavilion project with so many talented individuals has been an incredible journey. MPavilion is special because even though it’s called a temporary pavilion, it’s actually even more complex than a building. We focused on how the MPavilion would accommodate lots of different activities, and the engineering and manufacturing has been a huge step forward for us in understanding the possibilities of fabric-based architecture,' says Choochuey.

Beyond its material innovations, the pavilion features a bottom layer made of a waffle of coloured fabric. It's light and moves with the breeze, filtering the sunlight and mimicking the gentle rustle of tree leaves. Underneath it sits a kiosk, painted with carefully selected Dulux shades. 

'When I first met Rachaporn and her design team, I quickly realised that we shared goals of harnessing architecture and design to make the world a better place for the future. Focused on solutions for upcycling and reusing buildings, sites and materials, All(zone)’s lightweight interventions complement MPavilion’s vision of fostering dialogue on how design and architecture can help create better cities for the people who live in them,' says Naomi Milgrom Foundation founder and the project's commissioner Naomi Milgrom. 

mpavilion.org 

allzonedesignall.com 

Thai architect Boonserm Premthada has a knack for highlighting the poetry of lesser known places by creating beautiful designs that add value to the everyday of communities that really need it. His latest project, The Artisans Ayutthaya: The Women Restaurant, a short ride north of Bangkok, is a testament to his inspirational approach. Together with his firm, Bangkok Project Studio, the team behind visionary works such as Elephant World (a worthy 2021 Wallpaper* Design Awards winner), Premthada composed a Thai restaurant building that promotes sustainable architecture, community values, age-old local traditions and good food, all rolled into one – within five wood-framed triangular buildings made of glass blocks. 

The historic City of Ayutthaya (founded in the 14th century) was the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, and as such, flourished for centuries. Today, as Thailand’s capital and focus has shifted elsewhere, the traditional cuisine and craft of Ayutthaya are preserved through this new restaurant in a small village of Ban Run District in Thailand's Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province. 

‘One curiosity of this place is that most of the residents are unmarried or widowed women,' says Premthada. ‘Their daily activity is to give alms to monks in the early morning at a small run-down village temple. They try their best to earn money to repair the temple. Each of them cooks a few specialties in large pots and packs the food in smaller individual bags to offer to the monks and exchange among themselves. This is where the project began.'

Inspired by the food culture in the area and the strength of this community’s bonds, the scheme was a commission by a local, Soraya Visitsopa, who is also the owner behind a previous work by Bangkok Project Studio. Wine Ayutthaya was built nearby in 2017, using cost-effective, humble methods. Striking to look at and functional, the wine bar is an impactful piece of architecture that helps change the lives of its employees and users, acting as a tourist magnet and supporting the revitalisation of the local economy. The Artisans Ayutthaya: The Women Restaurant was conceived with similar goals in mind, and opens this month. 

The Artisans Ayutthaya – a Thai restaurant that empowers

‘These modest single and widowed women aged 55 to 94, who cook delicious dishes but never call themselves chefs, join hands with their culinary skills to create the local cuisine for visitors, and hope that they will return just like children or grandchildren who come home for food prepared by their mothers, aunts and grandmothers,' says the architect. 

The community’s culinary traditions played a key role in the design development. The cuisine itself is homely and uses simple, nutritious and unfussy natural ingredients – such as prawns – that come mostly from the nearby Chao Phraya River. In the same way, a simple palette dominates the Thai restaurant building, elevating leftover and commonly found materials with an eye-catching and pragmatic design. The crockery and earthenware used in the business are also locally sourced, made by just one 60-year-old craftswoman. 

‘Ayutthaya food is a hidden food. Some dishes have more than 400 years of history. The food is made by women but people seem to forget about them,' says Premthada. ‘In the same way, the five triangles of the building arrangement create hidden spaces. Additionally, I chose glass blocks from a leftover stock. It’s a material that seems worthless in the eyes of the public as these blocks are mainly used to build toilets. But my goal was to bring what is hidden to the spotlight again. Whether it is the forgotten women, the hidden dishes or the leftover glass blocks, I want everything to be alive once more.' 

The complex is finely crafted and generous, each building measuring about 8m x 8m x 11.31m, with a combined area of 310 sq m, bordering the riverbank. Each of the buildings has a different function, spanning kitchen facilities, offices, various dining areas, toilets and a multi-purpose hall. The glass bricks are matched with timber and PVC panels instead of glass sheets, to reduce weight and costs. Sling ropes are crossed over the doors and windows to negotiate the strong winds blowing in from the river. 

Now, the family of structures shimmers throughout the day and glows as a cultural beacon at night, thanks to this architecture team’s efforts. ‘The most exciting part of the project is that it allows the elderly ladies to be reborn through doing what they love, which is cooking this food,' Premthada concludes. ‘It is a way to pass down the traditional recipes to younger generations and ensure that these recipes survive the travails of time.'

INFORMATION

bangkokprojectstudio.co

The work of Thai architect Boonserm Premthada walks the tightrope between a sharp, contemporary aesthetic and an intensely site-specific outlook rooted in tradition. One of his newest projects, a home for both people and elephants in the Surin province of lower north-eastern Thailand, demonstrates how.

Elephant World was created to support the Kui, the region’s ethnic people, and their beloved pachyderms. The Kui have been elephant keepers for centuries, considering the noble animals family members, and living with them side by side. However, in recent years, Thailand’s economic boom and urbanisation have threatened their way of life. Many have been displaced, their 400-year-old village falling into poverty and disrepair, endangering people and animals.

The corridors are elephantsized to cater to the animals, and the outdoor parts are interspersed with ponds that highlight the need for clean water for this endangered community’s survival.

The local government looked at ways to arrest that decline and create suitable and sustainable living conditions for elephants and humans. Premthada, and his architecture firm Bangkok Project Studio, won the commission and work began in 2015. ‘The architecture performs three functions,’ says the architect. ‘Preserving the culture; reviving the forest to ensure a supply of food and herbal medicines for elephants and providing a water source; and building a self-sufficient community economy through sustainable tourism that respects elephants and the Kui way of life.’

The design consists of three main parts: an observation tower, a museum, and what the architect calls the ‘cultural courtyard’, a 70m x 100m sloping roof, beneath and around which cultural events and religious ceremonies take place. (The wider complex also includes the historic Kui village, a field, temples and graveyards, but these were not designed by Premthada.)

The observation tower is located on the edge of the site, next to a forest. It was built from bricks made locally using earth from the construction of a new reservoir, dug to serve the 200 elephants in the compound (collectively, the animals require about 800,000 litres of water per month). Built for visitors to climb and take in the scenery, and observe the relationship between people and elephants below, the tower is also used as a platform from which to disperse seeds of the local Apitong trees, helping to renew the forest. 

By contrast, the museum is a low building, composed of open-air corridors, enclosed galleries and spaces such as a library. Undulating roofs and wall edges create peaks and valleys that appear to spring out of the earth. The bricks used for the museum were created on site by local workers using loam found in the area. The presence of elephants is palpable throughout, and not only in the exhibits, which include stories that speak to the community’s heritage as well as the value of coexistence between people and nature. The corridors are elephantsized to cater to the animals, and the outdoor parts are interspersed with ponds that highlight the need for clean water for this endangered community’s survival.

‘To me, the museum is not just a single building,’ says Premthada. ‘It is all the buildings in the project, the village which has been there for 300 to 400 years, the trees and the existing landscape. And the stories in my museum are told by the local people.’ 

The hope, says Premthada, is for the forest to grow and take over much of the site, engulfing it in greenery, and making this a project that is at one with nature – a relationship as organic and effortless as the one between the Kui and the elephants. ‘Animals can transform a city, bring hope and pride to humans,’ he adds. ‘Humanity isn’t just about human relationships. We address our humanity through our relationships with other living creatures on the planet. The respect, or contempt, we show animals reflects our values as a human race.’

INFORMATION

bangkokprojectstudio.co

‘Good things come to those who wait’ seems to be the mantra in Bangkok’s hotel scene as of late, and that’s certainly the case for the highly anticipated Capella Bangkok. Sandwiched between the city's oldest paved road and the Chao Phraya river, the brand's first Thailand outpost was initially slated to launch in 2013 but finally opened its doors this October.

Spearheaded by Singapore-based architecture firm Hamiltons International and interior design studio BAMO (whose portfolio includes the Four Seasons Bora Bora and Ritz-Carlton in Chicago), the design offers a decidedly modern interpretation of the district’s rich history as a cultural meeting point between East and West. In the double-height lobby, swathed in marble, taupe and cream, local touches can be found in the little details. A set of armchairs covered in artfully woven rattan. Sunlight seeping through Thai-inspired latticework. Wall-spanning fine art drawing from ancient Thai craft techniques.

But the Chao Phraya river, the aorta of old-time Bangkok, steals the scene. Intentionally, because from the home-like Living Room lounge (hosting cultural workshops such as indigo tie-dye classes) to the hotel's three restaurants and 101 guest rooms and suites, every space has been designed to draw the outside in and frame panoramic river views through floor-to-ceiling windows. Muted interiors offer minimal distraction and architectural lines guide eyes towards the water.

Raising the bar for luxury accommodation in the city, the ‘Verandah’ rooms open to private terraces with raised plunge pools overlooking the river. Other room types, all straight-lined cream-and-wood affairs with travertine marble bathrooms, have access to generous balconies to take in Bangkok’s cacophonous river scenes. The prime real estate, however, is reserved for the hotel’s seven riverfront villas. The first of their kind in Bangkok, these private retreats come with plunge pools, separate dining and living rooms, and private gardens leading right up to the waterside. On the food front, the hotel has tapped Italian-Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco of 2019 World’s Best Restaurant

Mirazur in France to bring his vision to its signature restaurant, Côte by Mauro Colagreco. Here, in a classic dining room flanked by white wall panels, antiquated mirrors, and a rustic-chic show kitchen, menus feature contemporary riffs on French and Italian coastal cuisine paired with natural wines from around the world. On the riverfront, Phra Nakhon takes over a glasshouse-like dining area and tree-shaded alfresco terrace with punchy Thai recipes inspired by the long-standing Thai restaurants spread around the district.

And then there’s Stella, a pan-Asian cocktail bar and 'omakase patisserie' celebrating heroic women of the East in made-to-order pastries and playful cocktails incorporating Asian spirits and herbs. Like its cocktail list, the boudoir-esque drinking den touches upon a variety of Asian design references with an Art Deco finish. Under a mirrored ceiling, a taxidermied white peacock takes centre stage, while another nook is decorated with throne-like chairs and hand-painted frescoes that wouldn’t look out of place in a Qing Dynasty palace.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

300/2 Charoen Krung Rd
Bangkok

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The Thai capital has no shortage of doughnut shops, but few match its sweet treats with praiseworthy design.

Narongrit Sritalanon and Chalermphol Akkarapinyokul, the brains behind a popular Thai lifestyle blog, saw an opportunity after visiting artisanal doughnut makers during trips from Seoul to Copenhagen.

In collaboration with Bangkok-based designer San Sephu, they restored a ramshackle townhouse in the up-and-coming Udom Suk suburb into a Scandi-chic cafe with arched doorways and double-height ceilings.

The interior delivers a medley of teak panelling and cream walls, punctuated by jolts of Prussian blue in the tiles and upholstery. Furnishing by Louis Poulsen and Herman Miller complete the look, as do the various artworks the owners brought back from travels around the globe.

Most importantly, the pillowy doughnuts in experimental flavours such as raspberry rose and Kyoto hojicha prove that Drop by Dough is more than just a shutterbug hotspot.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

3131/4-5 Sukhumvit Road
Bangkok

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It is Kengo Kuma’s ‘nth visit’ to the Amanpuri hotel on the island of Phuket in Thailand, which he first visited nearly 30 years ago, and it’s no wonder that the internationally renowned Japanese architect feels content here. On this paradise peninsula, abundant with nature and peacefully dotted with pitch-roofed pavilions, who wouldn't?

Yet perhaps it’s because Kuma and the Aman hotel brand both have some philosophies in common – the fusion of eastern and western cultures, the embrace of nature and simplicity, and a forward-thinking approach combined with traditional values.

Their relationship was further forged when Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKAA) designed a unique range of bottles for Aman’s new skincare range, released in 2019. So when Aman decided to embark on adding a new retail store for the Amanpuri, the first of its kind of the Aman brand, there was sure to be a meeting of minds.

With its peaceful setting and contextually sensitive design, the Amanpuri was the first Aman that set a high precedent for every destination (32 and counting) that then followed from Bali to Utah. Designed by architect Ed Tuttle in 1989, the resort is defined by its nature-immersed village of private pitched roofed pavilions connected by stepped pathways, inspired by the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya.

It was a good place to start for this first store, intended as a prototype for more to come, imagined as a curated stage for the best local and international design objects, clothing and jewellery. ‘This is a shop, but the concept of the shop is far beyond a shop,’ says Kuma, who has crafted show-stopping retail environments for Camper in Barcelona and Valextra in Milan. ‘We designed the space as a museum of the Aman resorts, where space has a special conversation with the philosophy behind the art and the product.’

Beautifully framed by KKAA’s columnless design, every piece for the store has been handpicked by Karen Schneider, global head of retail for Aman. From the softest bamboo and cotton mix leisure-wear, to the Kengo Kuma-designed Aman skincare range, and modern pieces informed by traditional craft – such as unique art objects from Lotus Arts de Vivre’s Bangkok gallery, atta grass bags handcrafted in Bali by Stelar and gold-lined bronze works by British-born Alexander Lamont, the offering is diverse and eclectic.

KKAA’s holistic approach imagined how an Amanpuri guest might find their way into the space – being visually welcomed by its soft geometry on arrival to the resort, casually meandering through from the spa, or walking through the entrance pavilion on the way back from breakfast perhaps. ‘The space is about the site and the pathway,’ says Kuma, ‘we just happened to cap it with a series of roofs’.

While the pitched roofs and strong axis of the building echo the traditional Thai architecture that informed Tuttle so strongly, there are some subtle differences to Kuma’s more Japanese approach, explains Balazs Bognar, design director at KKAA. ‘If you go to some of the temples in Bangkok, you can see series of stupas that appear like objects or talismans that you really cannot inhabit. In Japanese examples, it is about entry, sequence and the in-between. Our pavilion is about sequence, spatial flow, continuity.’

Both remarkably sculptural and beautifully precise, the layered roofs of the pavilion dissolve into their lush leafy environment, where the dark tiles absorb the midsummer light. This perceived lightness and simplicity however hides the challenge that came with combining two structural systems, one of cross-laminated timber, and one of steel, with glass partitions.

‘Creating the gaps between the roofs was not easy – structurally it is totally separated, and each roof is independent,’ says Kuma, who owes his success in combining the latest technology with traditional Japanese design principles, to collaborating with engineers from the very start of the design process.

The engineering explored in this pavilion has also been used for the Tokyo New National Stadium project, which uses the same system on a larger scale: ‘We learnt much from this experience to pass to the new building which will be one of the most unique CLT buildings. It is higher, with a bigger void and natural light comes through the gaps between the CLT panels,’ says Kuma.

All of this effort is geared towards helping the architecture diffuse into nature following the principles of Kuma’s 2008 thesis Anti-Object. Here at the Amanpuri pavilion, natural materials are at the forefront, construction is exposed, and a very special lighting effect occurs: ‘The light is filtered, which we call the komorebe effect, translated as ‘dappled light’. In the forest you feel dappled light through the leaves, and here we have tried and create that kind of atmosphere.’

A powerful connection to the earth is created by the sweeping roof composition, which grazes the sloping ground and shades the building with its extended eave. At the same time it also extends up high – the tallest roof is 9 metres, giving the retail space a special presence, like that of a museum, yet still levelling to a similar height to the neighbouring gallery pavilion.

‘Thai architecture and Japanese architecture both have some vocabulary in common,’ says Kuma. ‘Intimacy and human scale are important to both cultures, and sculpting the roof is one solution to creating intimacy. In Japanese architecture, we use the soffit and a small entrance to mediate the exterior and the interior, it’s a kind of Asian wisdom and a solution for [connecting the building to] the environment.’

Capturing both the dignity of a museum and the warmth of a living room, the pavilion might have been designed as a pathway that falls into step with its surroundings, yet it has also been designed as a new extension into the future for the Aman brand. And we have a feeling that this is just the beginning of a very fruitful journey for KKAA and Aman.

INFORMATION

kkaa.co.jp

aman.com/resorts/amanpuri

ADDRESS

Amanpuri
Pansea Beach Cherngtalay
Thalang District
Phuket 83110
Thailand

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In mid-December the annual Wonderfruit festival returned for its fourth instalment near Pattaya on the Gulf of Thailand. Unlike many fairs and exhibitions that perennially set up in cities leaving unsustainable practices and one-use ephemera in their wake, Wonderfruit was founded in 2016 on the very principles of sustainability.

Founder and creative director Pete Phornprapha, third generation of the Siam Motors family who works by day as president and CEO of Bangkok Komatsu Sales Co Ltd is the brains behind the immersive, eco-friendly, community-minded music and lifestyle festival which offers regional and global beats, yoga classes, talks and workshops from artists, activists and architects.

Since 2018, Phornprapha has worked with Ab Rogers Design (ARD) to build a village of structures that support his environmentally-conscious ethos for an intelligent yet exhilarating festival. Combining experience across health and lifestyle design – from retail concepts for Comme des Garcons to an upcoming Maggie’s Centre in the UK completing in 2020, with local Thai craft, materials and techniques, founder Ab Rogers has created a characterful series of semi-permanent buildings to serve the ‘Wonderfruits’ – as the festival-goers are known as.

‘Wonderfuit is a rarely enlightened client. Phornprapha has an exceptional vision and sustainable ethos. He owns the land so we can keep the structures all year round – the site is becoming a kind of sculpture park or eco community. There will be other events, and it will metamorphose and evolve as the community grows and more elements are added with a sense of permanence,’ says Rogers.

All the semi-permanent pavilions from 2018 were serviced before the 2019 festival kicked off – lessons about wind, shade and termites had been learned along the way. Termite-infested bamboo was replaced at the floating bath house (inspired by Thai fishing villages), and tartan shading added to the onion-shaped massage therapy rooms.

At the Eco-Pavilion (‘Why build a building if you can creating a mound plant bamboo and put up umbrellas,’ says Rogers of the design that features 124 hand-made, hand-painted cotton umbrellas) corn was replaced with robuster bamboo to shelter a new central umbrella with an air vent. And, at the Theatre of Feasts, an open kitchen and dining pavilion for 250 people, a lighter roof was installed, the table was rebuilt so it could be easily dismantled and new three-legged bar stools introduced.

‘I believe the key to building sustainably is to use temporary biodegradable materials in semi-permanent ways’ – Ab Rogers

‘I believe the key to building sustainably is to use temporary biodegradable materials in semi-permanent ways. These structures need up keep, they need care. We must take responsibility for what we make, and by doing so avoid the use of concrete materials and non-degradable plastics,’ says Rogers.

The new structures for 2019 each celebrate indigenous materials, and the surrounding nature and landscape. children’s adventure playground features up-cycled bamboo seesaws, and a mud-slide house made of tyres. The Forbidden Fruit stage was designed with bamboo leftover from previous years, recycled prayer mats and the natural jungle created a creeping backdrop. Plus a new stage made out of fabric made from recycled PET bottles that Bangkok’s residents have been donating at dedicated Wonderfruit collection bins. 

This year, ARD launched a design competition for a sustainable pavilion. Judged by Deyan Sudjic, Aric Chen, Farshid Moussavi and Thai Architect Boonserm Premthada, the prize was won by young architects Jeanne Pasquet and Helena Bosch of Trojans. Their bright bamboo ‘Woven House’ was coloured with red pigment from ‘Khrang’ a resin produced by the ‘laccifer lacca’ insect, bright yellow from gum extracted from the ‘garcinia dulcis’ plant or the berries of pomegranate, and intense blue made of fermented indigo leaves. ‘The beauty of the design was in the absence of materials,’ says Rogers. ‘It felt like an ephemeral piece of architecture, changing with light.’

As well as sustainable architecture, there are plenty of other exciting and experimental ideas buzzing through the festival. Elin Eyborg, lead architect at ARD, created a magical path of 3000 rammed earth bricks painted red with organic pigment, laid as a performance over the festival and left to return back to the earth afterwards. Landscape architect Kochkorn Voraakhom discussed her work in Thailand, and food expert Kanitsanan Thanthitwat opened minds on eating bugs.

A modular wooden structure requiring no nuts or bolts designed by Burning Man artist, Gregg Fleishman was rebuilt with added shading. A forest of bamboo is being planted, and farmers from Chang Mai have set up a farm growing salad, sweetcorn, watermelons.

As well as the mastermind behind the Wonderfruit village, Rogers is also a Wonderfruit himself, where he finds the diversity of experiences unparalleled: ‘You can sit amidst growing lettuces, eat real food, and the next minute be dancing to deep techno in the Polygon (a 360 degree stage with holographic visuals), or meandering down to the quarry to discover Craig Richards playing.’

INFORMATION

Wonderfruit Festival ran 12 - 16 December 2019

ADDRESS

Wonderfruit
The Fields at Siam Country Club
Pattaya
Thailand

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In certain circles, when it comes to a sun, sand and sea holiday, Pattaya tends to get short shrift. All bets are off though with the arrival of the sleek Mason Pattaya where Bangkok-based VaSLab Architecture has sprinkled 35 one- and two-storey villas across a lush tropical landscape dominated by views of Pattaya Bay.

The rooms shy from Thai design tropes, opting, instead, for a Brutalist palette of grey washed concrete, angular lines, and sharp-edged ceiling cut-outs that cast diffused light into the bathroom, alongside stone and wood decorative pieces by Bangkok-based Dong Sculpture. Particularly covetable are the hand-cut vases by the local Angsila community of stone masons.

The nearby town of Na Jomtien, meanwhile, features beaches and local weekend markets, but head chef Songwut Monthirakanok conspires to keep guests happily house-bound with a pomelo salad studded with crisp coconut shards and spicy shrimp, and grilled fish mousse scented with Thai herbs.

ADDRESS

285 Moo 3 Sukhumvit Road
Pattaya

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Just over a year after it opened with 52 rooms, the Sala Samui Chaweng Beach Resort has topped off its second phase with the 82-room Garden Wing.

Both wings were conceived by Thai studio Onion to reflect the shifting phases of the moon, a conceit seen to best effect in the hotel’s central façade, which is comprised of semi-circular brise-soleils.

The first Beach Wing channels the energy of the full moon through the circular silhouettes of the light fixtures, outdoor bathtubs, a capacious circular pool and arches, whilst the sophomore complex takes on a mood-board informed by the half and dark moons.

Thankfully, the Garden Wing’s design tropes are not literal, Onion leaning, instead, towards white washed walls, thick crescent walls, pastel hued bed linen, cool blue-grey stone tiles, and summery polygonal-tiled pools for the bedrooms, and layering the public reception areas with darker shades.

Guests of the Garden Wing who are averse to the idea of schlepping to the facilities at the Beach Wing can stay put with their own cluster of distractions, not least a 25m swimming pool, spa and steam room, and an airy blue and white themed Treehouse restaurant and bar that serves up western and Thai standards.

ADDRESS

99/10 Moo 2 Chaweng Beach
Ko Samui District

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Thailand’s second tallest building, MahaNakhon in Bangkok, designed by Büro Ole Scheeren has opened its observation deck on the 77th storey of the building in celebration of its completion. The vertigo-inducing glass platform that extrudes from the top of the building, floating out 300m above the city, has been dubbed the ‘Skytray’. Its purpose is to contribute to the spectacle of the contemporary city experience, essentially by delivering the sky, the skyline and the landscape beyond, on a tray.

‘I think buildings live not only for the people that inhabit them, but of course also in relation to the city. The moment that a building participates in the urban spectacle both as part of its skyline and also as an experience, something that people can go into, engage and participate in, its significance shifts completely – suddenly the building inscribes itself in the individual and collective experiences of the city,’ says Ole Scheeren, principal of Büro Ole Scheeren.

The word MahaNakhon translates as ‘great metropolis’, and the towering complex has been designed to reveal its ‘inner life’ to the rest of the city. From head to toe, its organically sprawling, then neatly spiraling sculptural formation of terraces, balconies, floating living rooms, wrap up retail, living, hospitality and social space across 150,000 sqm – ‘pulling the activity of the urban ground up into the sky’, says Scheeren.

At the base of the tower, MahaNakhon splits into two parts to carve out a public plaza, slowly merging with the city to form ‘MahaNakhon Hill’, a series of cascading indoor and outdoor terraces inspired by a mountain landscape. An adjacent seven storey retail centre ‘MahaNakhon Cube’ forms a direct bridge link to Bangkok’s Skytrain, connecting it physically to the city infrastructure, as well as the skyline above.

‘The idea was to take the life of the city and the life at street-level and let it enter and ascend the tower all the way to its top floors, so that you have not only a public square at the ground level, and all this social activity along the shaft, but even the top of the tower is given back to the public domain. It is a building that embeds itself firmly in the city and the public realm and celebrates the idea of togetherness and social activity, which is essentially what life in the city is all about,’ says Scheeren.

See more of Ole Scheeren’s vertical visions in Vancouver, Frankfurt and Ho Chi Minh City

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Büro Ole Scheeren website

The themed resort can be a tricky act to pull off, but the Library, which opened on a patch of sun-kissed beach in Koh Samui in 2007, earns applause for the consistency of the slick design of its 46 studios and suites. Two new pool villas have just been added to the resort’s inventory, and though each is distinctly different in mood, both cleave closely to the central bibliographic conceit.

The Writer suite – designed by Kasemtham Sornsong, the resort’s owner, no less – is a 359-sqm pleasure dome that’s anchored by a 8.5m saltwater pool and beach frontage. After check-in, there is little reason to ever step out of the villa to explore the rest of the resort, so contained is the menu of in-room facilities, not least an outdoor, pool-side cinema, private gym and, since we’re already in the realm of excess, an 11-feet wide bed.

For the Editor pool suite, interior designer Tirawan Songsawat channels the louche romanticism of a bookish Ming-era mandarin on a Wong Kar Wai set. Which explains the palette of Chinoiserie-lite furniture and high beveled mirrors, dramatic red sheer drapes, a capacious outdoor sala and private dining area and, of course, a reading room.§

ADDRESS

14/1 Moo 2
Chaweng Beach Bophut
Koh Samui

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It’s been a long time coming, but the Waldorf Astoria group has finally landed in South East Asia. Its location, in Bangkok’s downtown Ratchaprasong intersection, pays off visually with spectacular views over the Royal Bangkok Sports Club against the city’s looming skyscrapers.

Occupying the first 16 floors of a 57-storey mixed-use tower that architects global firm Gensler and local company DI Designs conceived as a spiraling magnolia flower in bloom, most of the interiors of the 171-room Waldorf Astoria Bangkok hotel are the work of André Fu. Here, the Hong Kong-based designer took his cues from his memories of visiting the legendary Waldorf Astoria New York as a child, while infusing it with a delicate sense of place. As such, the tropical lime green and mustard accents in the Front Room echo the shades of Thai spices, while bronze feature screens are garnished with art deco patterns and subtle Thai twists.

Of the six restaurants and bars, three have been designed by New York-based AvroKO. This includes The Champagne Bar on the top floor, where bubbly is served by the glass against some of the best views of the city. 

ADDRESS

151 Ratchadamri Road

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There’s nothing unusual about hotels having their own restaurants, beaches or boutiques but Hua Hin’s Hotel Bocage, the Louis T Collection’s second Thai property, may be the first to borrow all three by opening atop a mall.

An homage to concrete, the stark, pared-down structure recalls the Andos and Itos of the world but is the work of developer/architect, Akaradej Pantisoontorn.

By outsourcing these needs, the Bocage is left to concentrate on experience. With just six rooms in all, this it delivers in spades. Thanks to Duangrit Bunnag, who also designed the luscious, open-plan Villa Noi down in Phang Nga, guests can enjoy equally stark, pared-down interiors, where beds by Porro, sofas by Living Divani and sculptural sanitary ware by Antonio Lupi lend requisite luxury to the sleek rooms and the cinematic views over the Gulf of Thailand. 

ADDRESS

Seenspace Building, 4th Floor

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Dining out in Bangkok can be a dizzying experience, what with its gastronomic haul of eateries, but in the case of the Penthouse Bar & Grill, it literally is.

The arrival on the 35th floor, which includes a mezzanine, of the city’s swanky Park Hyatt sets the tone for the six F&B venues that design studio AvroKO have inserted throughout the three-storey penthouse. The effect is designed to shock and awe and, on that front, it’s very clear that little expense has been spared, whether in the collectibles and tchotchkes sprinkled through the rooms, or in the lushly opulent styling.

A 1960s BMW R27 motorbike in the white Carrara marbled foyer and the brushed brass staircase that winds its way up and down the penthouse is a hint of things to come, with AvroKO unfurling walnut timber walls and polished nickel through the Cocktail Bar; Macassar ebony, crystal panels and surgical lamps in the Whiskey Room; and grey silk wall panels and opium beds in The Mezzanine.

At this height, it’s no surprise that the prized space is the Rooftop Terrace on the 36th floo, where a customised streetlamp-inspired light fixture and a bar of teak and slate command jaw-dropping views of Bangkok.

ADDRESS

Park Hyatt
Central Embassy
88 Thanon Witthayu

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In a serene refurbished teak homestead once part of the Borneo Trading Company’s headquarters, 137 Pillars House is one of Chiang Mai’s most awarded hotels. Now, the group has opened a city-slick sister, on the top eight floors of a sparkling skyscraper in Bangkok.

The brand’s 18th-century heritage is kept in rocking chairs on each of the 34 suites’ private balconies, the ground-level Bangkok Trading Post café, and the handsome Jack Bain’s bar named after one of the Company’s most distinguished managers. Louis Leonowens, who established the original headquarters, is also immortalised in an old London cab named Louie that totes guests around town with backseat champagne.

But this is a decidedly modern escape, with walk-in wardrobes and five-fixture marble bathrooms, a spa and wellness centre offering aerial yoga and reiki classes, a Japanese hair salon, and an exquisite pan-Asian restaurant with dishes like cinnamon-smoked korobuta pork belly and chilled silk oolong cream with coffee bean soil.

Not one but two sky high infinity pools may feel far removed from the city, but a glass floor looks dizzyingly down to the private driving ranges on the sixth-floor terrace, cleverly linking the hotel to the world below.

ADDRESS

38 Sukhumvit Soi 39

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Nothing is more telling of a city’s progress than the state of its skyline. Bangkok is currently a frenzy of construction as contractors race to deliver an impressive line-up of new buildings, among them the 615m-high Rama IX Super Tower, set to be the seventh tallest in the world. Notable buildings completed in recent years include the MahaNakhon – or the Pixel Tower as it’s known – by architect Ole Scheeren, and Central Embassy, a curvilinear, three-dimensional coil by Amanda Levete’s London practice AL_A.

Newly moved into the upper 24 floors of the latter is the much anticipated Park Hyatt Bangkok. Set within the former gardens of the British Embassy at the corner of Wireless and Ploen Chit Roads – the city’s heaving commercial artery – Central Embassy is the Central Group’s flagship property, and was already home to six floors of luxury retail.

For Park Hyatt, New York and Toronto-based firm Yabu Pushelberg has embraced the soaring volumes and irregular, free-form architecture of the building to create fluid, intimate and calming interiors that belie the intensity of the city outside. It has also successfully captured a sense of place, with subtle Thai references that eschew time-worn Asian details. ‘Bangkok is the most modern Asian metropolis today,’ explain the duo. ‘So the context of modern luxury is important; upon arrival, you immediately become aware of embracing the future that is rooted in this place.’ Throughout the property, custom-made furnishings and natural stone are delivered in a soft, neutral palette, with modern black accents to provide definition.

If the world’s best street food doesn’t entice, one of the hotel’s three restaurants will – not least the Penthouse Bar & Grill, a soon-to-open destination venue set over the top three floors of the building and designed by New York-based outfit AvroKo. For the full Park Hyatt experience, meanwhile, the Embassy Room serves up a mix of Asian and Western dishes from a state-of-the-art open kitchen. The menu can be sampled al fresco, beside the infinity pool, against a backdrop of the building’s shimmering, sweeping curves.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

88 Wireless Road

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If there’s one thing that will get Bangkokians reaching for their phones, it’s the launch of a new bar or restaurant from local hospitality group Lebua Hotels and Resorts. Continuing its partnership with wine and spirit producer Pernod Ricard, Lebuar has opened Alfresco 64 – A Chivas Bar, located on the 64th floor of its hotel at the State Tower skyscraper.

Design by chief executive Deepak Ohri and local firm DWP  takes its cues from the glitzy world of luxury yachts and private jets – think sleek deck-style hardwoods, leather and glass. The perfect spot for a postprandial tipple, we suggest a perch on the outdoor terrace, where glittering vistas of Bangkok and the meandering Chao Phraya River are the perfect backdrop to enjoy the limited-edition Scotch created by Chivas Regal for Lebua, the first special blend it has made exclusively for a client in 230 years.

ADDRESS

64th floor, State Tower
1055 Silom Road

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Long celebrated by nature-loving aesthetes for its boundless rolling hills and far-flung seclusion, the Golden Triangle’s appeal has become even more tempting with the launch of the new Explorer’s Lodge at the Four Seasons Tented Camp.

Perched on a hillside near where the Ruak and Mekong Rivers meet, the two-bedroom villa is the resort’s alternative to its 15 two-sleeper luxury tents, dotted throughout the jungle with surrounding views of Thailand, Myanmar and Burma.

Designer Bill Bensley’s mood-board takes its cues from the resort’s 19th century safari-adventure theme, dressing the lodge with handcrafted wooden furniture, timber flooring, hurricane lamps and standout hand-hammered copper bathtubs. But with an outdoor plunge pool and, beyond that, a range of activities surrounding the camp’s rehabilitated elephants, it’s difficult to imagine spending too much time indoors.

We suggest a bracing climb to the resort’s highest point to watch the sunrise from behind the mountains of Laos over breakfast, before retiring back to the camp for a traditional Thai massage in the spa, surrounded by the lush bamboo jungle.

ADDRESS

499 Moo 1
Chiang Saen
Chiang Rai

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So much to do, yet so little time. And with many modern families scattered across the globe, is it any wonder that an increasing number are forsaking the long trek home, opting instead to meet up with their loved ones in an exotic location?

With that in mind, Thai hotel group Anantara has just launched a six-sleeper Family Suite at its Elephant Camp & Resort in the country’s Golden Triangle region. Perched among lush rolling hillsides, where the Ruak and Mekong Rivers meet, the villa is made up of two parts – a Deluxe View Room which interconnects with a View Suite, both with balconies and built-in daybeds from which to admire the bracing views of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

The interiors are a modern take on the brand’s signature Thai aesthetic, with rich silk textiles and hardwood teak flooring forming the base for traditional timber furnishings and indigenous tchotchkes.

With a range of activities surrounding the onsite elephant camp, there is plenty to do as a family en-masse. We suggest a leisurely stroll with the gentle giants and their mahouts on their daily walk, followed by a private dining experience in the baby elephant camp.

ADDRESS

229 Moo 1
Chiang Saen
Chiang Rai 57150

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Faultless locations and dreamy spas aside, if there’s one thing Anantara hotels is good at, it’s the ability to produce such tempting dining options, that heading out to sample the destination’s local cuisine could completely slip your mind.

Occupying the city’s original British Consulate, an old colonial house that sits at the heart of the sleek Kerry Hill-designed Anantara Chiang Mai - itself set on the banks of the tranquil Mae Ping River - The Service 1921 is named for the year the building opened and takes its inspiration from the British government’s secret intelligence service with a heavy masculine aesthetic of sold wood flooring and wall panels; antique rugs; vintage lamps and fans; and an array of fictitious tchotchke’s from old security intelligence files to braille and morse code signage that rounds off the concept nicely. The mystery of the space is reinforced by a secret bookshelf door that swings open to reveal the private dining room.

The best seats in the house are on the upper wraparound veranda, where the gentle breeze from the river will temper some of the spicier dishes on the Thai, Chinese Szechuan and Vietnamese menu, such as the yum ped yang, a duck salad with a chilli lime dressing, or the tom sab nua, a northern Thai soup made with braised beef knuckle, basil, chilli and galangal. If that doesn’t do the trick, the British Consulate - a vodka cocktail with tangerine-infused crushed ice - will.

ADDRESS

123-123/1 Charoen Prathet Road

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In the two or so decades since the Four Seasons launched its Chiang Mai hotel, the property has amassed a legion of fans, not least for its cinematic countryside vistas and remote location about half an hour north of the city centre. Set over 32 acres within the pretty Mae Rim Valley, speckled with rice farmers, lakes, lily ponds and waterfalls, the 99-villa hotel is a peaceful bolthole far from the hum of northern Thailand’s largest city, but still within striking distance of its famous landmarks.

Now, the hotel’s appeal has become even more honed with the launch of Rim Tai Kitchen, a cooking studio and restaurant. And while Thai cooking classes are hardly big news, this one scores points for its location in an old teak house surrounded by lush gardens dotted with banyan trees and views of the hotel’s rice paddies.

Inside, designer Bill Bensley has continued with the hotel’s traditional Lanna aesthetic, but has embellished the teak flooring and furnishings with dramatic bell hoods above the stoves and a dazzling chandelier that hangs over the communal table.

An itinerary of activities including market visits, organic tea classes and fruit and vegetable carving sessions are on offer, but we suggest heading over in the evening when the studio is transformed into ‘Thai Kitchen Live’, an interactive open-kitchen restaurant experience, where chefs show you how to whip up classics from papaya salad to wok-friend minced pork – the perfect dishes to be washed down with a post-dinner tipple on the adjacent cocktail lawn.

ADDRESS

Mae Rim-Samoeng Old Road, 50180

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While the banks of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River have become prime real estate for any major hotel brand looking to set up shop in the city, local group Anantara, has left that limelight to one of its younger resorts, highlighting its downtown Siam property as its flagship in Thailand, instead. 

Occupying a series of low-slung buildings, overlooking the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, Anantara Siam might not look like much from the outside, but inside, a recent facelift, that has smartly merged half its entry level rooms to create a series of luxury Premier options, has firmly established the hotel’s spot at the top of the Anantara food chain.

Designer Jeffrey Wilkes’ mood board takes its cues from Thai palaces that have been constructed with European influences, resulting in a modern look that eschews time-worn Asian details, but is still in keeping with the brand’s signature Thai aesthetic.

As such, silk wall panels, leather headboards and traditional furnishings are pulled together by modern grey and royal blue colour palettes, while glass bathroom doors are etched with pencil sketches of the birdlife that can be seen in nearby Lumphini Park.

If the world’s best street food doesn’t entice, the hotel’s considerable dining options might; we suggest heading to the Tony Chi-designed Madison, where perfectly seared grain-fed Wagyu beef is a satisfying start to an evening of cocktails and cigars at Aqua, located in the hotel's courtyard.

But with a new two-bedroom Explorer Suite by Jim Thompson - also part of the hotel’s upgrade - on offer, it’s difficult to imagine leaving your room.

ADDRESS

155 Rajadamri Road

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Long celebrated by beach-loving aesthetes for its cinematic ocean frontage and talcum-white sands, Phuket’s sunny charms have been ratcheted up a few notches with the unveiling of Habita.

Set on the grounds of the Sri Panwa resort, the 20 new suites and ten penthouses designed by Bangkok’s Habita Company are being billed as a hotel within a hotel – a super-deluxe club floor lounge set into a wooded, 60m high bluff with bracing views of Panwa Cape and the Andaman Sea.

Studio Chemistry has furnished the light-drenched rooms in sunflower yellows, raw silks and timber strips, though it’s difficult to imagine spending too much time indoors when there’s an en-suite infinity pool, and an Olympic-sized communal waterfall pool to frolic in.

The greedy grab of eight F&B outlets – which include a rooftop bar for sunset cocktails, modern Chinese hotpot, and Thai soul food – might have you reconsidering your swimwear options. 

ADDRESS

88 moo 8
Sakdidej Road
Vichit, Muang
Phuket

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