Whilst Middle-Eastern boltholes like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have long grabbed the lion’s share of attention with their frenzied menus of tourist and business attractions, Kuwait has very quietly glided under the radar, preferring to offer a more genteel and measured pace. Qualities, incidentally, that inform the debut of the Four Seasons hotel in the new Gensler-designed sparkling water-fronted Burj Alshaya complex.
Yabu Pushelberg have humanised the scale of the hotel’s vast interior halls with subtle renditions of Middle Eastern motifs, such as bronze accents on low-slung furniture; mashrabiya screens rendered onto towering columns, the floor-to-ceiling windows in the 284 bedrooms and suites, and privacy screens in the bathrooms; polygonal-shaped lamps; and soaring timber arches that recall the gentle bend of desert palms.
Not that the designers have been shy to celebrate monumentality, exhibit A being the world’s largest crystal Lasvit chandelier in the lobby, the sprawling 438sqm Royal Suite, and the double-storey spa that features a hammam and psammotherapy suite. Shanghai-based Kokaistudios, meanwhile, were responsible for the hotel’s three anchor restaurants – Sintoho, Dani Forni and Elements – though there’s every reason to gravitate towards Al Bandar’s fourth floor terrace for its beguiling twin attractions of outdoor pool and shisha pipes.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Al-Soor Street
-
Christmas gift ideas for design loversWallpaper* global design director Hugo Macdonald compiles his festive wish list – from Poltrona Frau's luxurious dog leads to Carl Aubock's wicker magazine wall rack
-
‘I want to push it forward’: Dries Van Noten’s new creative director is Julian KlausnerA member of the Dries Van Noten design team since 2018, Belgian designer Julian Klausner has been promoted to creative director after the namesake founder’s exit from his eponymous label earlier this year
-
Inside Dior’s ‘Gold House’ in Bangkok, a spectacular celebration of Thai art and craftDaven Wu takes a trip to Bangkok to discover ‘Gold House’, a gilded new concept store from Dior which is rooted in both Parisian savoir-faire and artisanal Thai craft, featuring a café, gardens and showstopping gilded facade
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico -
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland -
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia -
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -
Casa Hoyos — San Miguel de Allende, Mexico -
Littlenap — Hangzhou, China -
Casa Santa Teresa — Corsica, France -
Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune designs K5, a new hotel in TokyoStep inside Claesson Koivisto Rune’s design as a 1920s bank turns hotel
