The newest member of Istanbul's ever-expanding design-hotel scene, the Marti is a 270-room venture playing heavily on Turkish art and culture (its designer, Zeynep Fadillioglu, is notable for being Turkey's first female architect to build a mosque). While strikingly modern, the hotel threads together traditional Turkish elements like mosaic murals and wooden screens in the rooms. At its heart is a large atrium centred on an Ottoman tent and water installation by Turkish Carnegie Prize-winner Kutlug Ataman. The four restaurants and bars include a placid courtyard café, which should interest the Young Turks who frequent frenetic Taksim Square, just a few moments away.