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    Archiloop converts 12th-century Italian monastery into hotel Vocabolo Moscatelli

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    A 12th-century monastery in Italy’s Umbria region has become a boutique hotel in the hands of Florence studio Archiloop, which aimed to retain the site’s “rustic simplicity” during its renovation.

    Vocabolo Moscatelli sits in the countryside near the hamlet of Calzolaro, close to the Tuscan border, on a remote estate surrounded by woodland.
    Vocabolo Moscatelli occupies a converted monastery in UmbriaThe property was discovered by chef concierge Frederik Kubierschky and his partner Catharina Lütjens, who set about restoring the various 800-year-old stone buildings with the help of architect Jacopo Venerosi Pesciolini of Archiloop.
    Aiming to retain the historic charm and as much of the original features as possible, the team kept the original wooden floors, exposed terracotta brickwork and ceiling beams, alongside brass, iron and stone details.
    The original brick and stone buildings were restored by ArchiloopThey worked with local craftspeople on the restoration of these elements and incorporated new pieces by artists and designers from across the region, too.

    “Vocabolo Moscatelli brings together the stone mason, blacksmith and woodworker with the artisan makers: ceramicists, tile makers and painters, creating a boutique style canvas that plays homage to the past while bringing in the design references of the now,” said the hotel team.
    Timber ceiling beams are left exposed throughout the hotelNew additions to the site include a travertine swimming pool, coloured to match the surrounding woodland and Mediterranean landscaping by Fabiano Crociani.
    “Threaded smoothly together, the effect is a template of rustic simplicity with heart,” the team said.
    Each of the property’s 12 guest suites is unique and includes a custom bed frameVocabolo Moscatelli offers 12 spacious guest suites: eight in the main building and four more dotted around the landscaped grounds, all with a “monastic chic” style.

    Bolza family turns 1,000-year-old Italian castle into Hotel Castello di Reschio

    Each includes a unique colour palette and collection of design pieces, like a sculptural black two-person bathtub on one of the terraces and the various handmade beds.
    The Bridal Suite includes a round canopy bed and a private garden, while the Spa Suite has its own sauna and jacuzzi.
    Some of the suites have sculptural al fresco bathtubsFurniture and products were sourced from Italian brands, such as outdoor furniture by Paola Lenti and lighting from Davide Groppi and Flos.
    Handmade glazed tiles by local Umbrian company Cotto Etrusco adorn the bathrooms, contrasting the rough stonework of the building’s thick walls.
    New additions to the estate include a travertine swimming poolMany historic buildings across Umbria have been converted into guest accommodations, from remote holiday homes like the Torre di Moravola watchtower to sprawling rural estates like Castello di Reschio.
    Several monasteries in Italy have also found new life as hotels, including the Monastero Arx Vivendi near Lake Garda.
    The photography is by Fabio Semeraro.

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      Bunkhouse and Reurbano convert 1940s Mexico City apartments into boutique hotel

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      American hotel brand Bunkhouse and interior design studio Reurbano have used motifs derived from the history of a Mexico City structure when converting it into a boutique hotel.

      Hotel San Fernando is located in the Condesa neighbourhood of Mexico City, a largely residential zone that in recent years has seen an influx of national and international travellers.
      Bunkhouse and Reurbano have converted a 1940s apartment building into a boutique hotel in Mexico CityBunkhouse worked with local interior design studio Reurbano to take a 1940s apartment building and convert it into a 19-room hotel, with finishes informed by the neighbourhood.
      The face of the structure was restored and painted a light green, with darker green used on the awnings that provide coverage for seating attached to the hotel’s lobby and restaurant, which open to the street through glass-paned French doors.
      It features renovated spaces that maintain details of the original structureAn art deco-style logo spells out the name of the hotel above the door. Saint Fernando is known as the patron saint of engineers, and the team wanted to highlight this by maintaining the name of the original building in the branding of the new structure.

      “We wanted to honour this building,” said Bunkhouse senior vice president of design Tenaya Hills.
      “We love the story and the history and like to imagine what it has been for people over the decades.”
      A spiral staircase leads from the lobby to the rooftopThis primary entrance features a metal door with glass panes informed by the original stained glass of the building.
      The entry corridor leads past a lobby lounge, with lighting by Oaxaca studio Oaxifornia and furnishings by local gallery Originario; and design studios Daniel Y Catalina, and La Metropolitana, which also created custom furniture for all of the guest suites.
      At the far end of the lobby lounge is the restaurant’s bar, which features a large semi-circular cabinet with mirrored back to hold the spirits. A chandelier by local sculptor Rebeca Cors hangs above the clay-clad bar.
      French doors feature at the entrance and on some of the roomsThe entrance corridor has green encaustic concrete tiles from the original building. Other original details include the wainscotting and casement windows.
      A reception area is located at the end of the corridor and behind it is a circular staircase with metal-and-wood railing that leads all the way up through the building, with landings on each of its five floors, terminating at a terrace on top of the building.

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      The guest rooms range from single-room setups to multi-room suites, the largest of which are accessed through French doors with opaque windows.
      Here the studio departed from the greens used on the exterior and the lobby and utilised soft orange, pink and white paints.
      Light colours and hand-crafted goods fill the roomsFloors in the rooms are either tile or wood and furniture made from light-coloured wood is covered by locally derived textiles. Three rooms on the rooftop level feature furniture designed by Bunkhouse and fabricated by local design outfit B Collective Studio.
      Pendant lamps and sconces by local ceramicist Anfora are found in the kitchens and bathrooms.
      The rooftop features sculptural breeze blocksThe rooftop features a tiled dining and lounge area surrounded by sculptural breeze blocks, designed to mimic the original building’s patterned stained glass.
      Mexican design studios Mexa and Comité de Proyectos contributed furniture pieces for the rooftop.
      Other hotels in Mexico include a tile-clad structure in San Miguel de Allende by Productora and Esrawe Studio and a hotel in Mexico City with wooden lattices by PPAA.
      The photography is by Chad Wadsworth. 

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      Martin Brudnizki designs Gilded Age-interiors for The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York

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      Martin Brudnizki Design Studio has designed the interiors for a 1907 Renaissance-style palazzo building in New York, which has been turned into a luxury boutique hotel by architecture studio Perkins Eastman.

      The Fifth Avenue Hotel sits on the site of what was once one of the last mansions of The Gilded Age.
      Throughout the late 19th century, the home of Charlotte Goodridge at 250 Fifth Avenue hosted receptions and musical evenings as part of New York’s social season.
      Classical fixtures contrast a contemporary colour palette in the hotel’s roomsPerkins Eastman added a 24-storey glass tower, designed with PBDW Architects, to the five-storey brick and limestone building.
      This was originally designed by McKim, Mead & White as the Second National Bank in 1907, replacing Goodridge’s 19th century home.

      Drawing on the history of the neighbourhood and heritage of the building, Martin Brudnizki Design Studio (MBDS) aimed to create an aesthetic for the new hotel that would embrace “Bohemian romanticism and the glamour of the gilded age,” while maintaining contemporary styling.
      Martin Brudnizki has employed colour and texture to reflect global travels”One of the biggest challenges was that we were working with both an existing and a new building at the same time, which each presented their own challenges architecturally,” studio founder Martin Brudnizki told Dezeen.
      “We worked with the architects to marry the historic narrative with the contemporary tower addition, which reflects New York today, and the concept of the modern traveller,” he said.
      A corner bedroom features yellow curtainsRooms feature a rich colour palette of garden greens, buttercup yellow and peony pink with gold accents.
      Bold patterns and textures jostle each other in a “harmonious and fun way, juxtaposing modernity with the classic finishings,” the designer said.
      The hotel’s walls host an extensive art collection”The intersection of interiors with architecture is so important. The mansion is a much more classical response to the history and details of the building, whilst the tower enthuses a more modern touch,” Brudnizki explained.
      “Both are unified by the choices of colours and certain furniture, fixtures and equipment that carry between the two sites.”

      Martin Brudnizki draws on “gritty glamour” for colourful Broadwick Soho hotel

      Bedrooms feature a global blend of references, including Pagoda-style table lamps, custom wardrobes informed by traditional Chinese cabinets, antique inlaid side tables, Murano glass chandeliers and star-like ceiling lights.
      The double-height entrance lobby features walls panelled with faceted antique mirrors, marble floors and grand arched windows – which echo throughout the hotel bedrooms as room dividers between sleeping and sitting areas.
      Rooms have been designed to have a residential feel”We loved the idea that all these great characters had once walked along the boulevard of Fifth Avenue and the fabulous parties hosted within the mansions of Fifth Avenue; the people and the conversations that took place,” said Brudnizki.
      “We wanted to create a space that felt as though its interiors had been brought together over time, pulling items from our muse’s travels and adventures from across the globe.”
      Antique glass panelling and modern mirrored artworks fill the double-height lobby”It is a truly eclectic and layered project that is intended to feel as though it has been around since the days of The Gilded Age,” the designer concluded.
      Other boutique hotels recently published on Dezeen include Christian Louboutin’s hotel Vermelho in Portugal and Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park in Tokyo, by Keiji Ashizawa Design and Norm Architects.
      Photography is by William Abranowicz.

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      Christian Louboutin and Madalena Caiado create “most extravagant and most traditional” hotel in Portugal

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      Fashion designer Christian Louboutin and architect Madalena Caiado’s 13-room boutique hotel in the village of Melides, south of Lisbon, celebrates craftsmanship and has been “designed at the scale of the hand”.

      Named after the French designer’s signature colour, Vermelho, which is Portuguese for red, is Louboutin’s first hospitality project.
      Each room is furnished from Louboutin’s collectionThe hotel features 13 rooms – all of them filled with the work of local craftsmen and a selection of materials and furniture from Louboutin’s personal collection.
      “This project has allowed me to empty my storage full of antiques and objects I have purchased over many years!” Louboutin told Dezeen.
      Floor tiles are in Louboutin’s signature shade of redAt one point in the development of the project it looked like it might not be approved to operate as a hotel and so Louboutin decided “if it’s not going to be a hotel, I’m going to do it as my house”. As a result, each of the hotel’s rooms have been individually designed and have their own identity.

      “If you build a house, you’re never going to design the same room,” the designer said. “I don’t know a house where you have the same room three times – it only exist in hotels.”
      “Houses have feelings – they have different rules to hotels,” he continued. “You can’t have your house looking like a hotel”.
      The hotel has been designed in the local architectural styleVermelho was designed to be “well-integrated into the village” and it was important to Louboutin “that it really respects the area and environment”.
      Working with Portuguese architect Caiado, the resulting hotel meets the street as a series of traditional buildings in the local architectural language: white render with blue plinth and window detailing, terracotta-tiled roofs and a scattering of chimneys punctuating the skyline.
      There was nothing on the site before work began”We have tried to imagine a building that could have existed in that place, and that was part of the landscape,” Caiado told Dezeen.
      “To achieve that, we made a project adapted to the topography, relating to the surrounding buildings, and re-discovering traditional construction systems and materials.”
      The hotel looks onto a private garden and poolThe site, which curves round a private garden and swimming pool that looks out to reed marshes, culminates in a tower, punctuated with playful window openings that hint at the internal character of the project.
      Discreet from the street, the interior design and garden-facing facade is full of detail, colour and craftmanship.
      The tower features unusual diamond punctuationThe hotel’s maximalist and eclectic style was intended as a reflection of Louboutin’s personal taste, while also celebrating Portuguese savoir-faire and the traditions of local craftspeople.
      Having already worked with Caiado on his Lisbon house, Louboutin’s brief for Vermelho was to show Caiado an Indian bracelet from his collection, which from the outside looks like a simple gold bangle, but on its inside face was engraved with busy animal designs and set with diamonds.
      The interiors are highly detailed”I said to Madalena, the hotel should be like the bangle; from the outside, you don’t see anything,” Louboutin explained. “It’s to be a very simple, well-designed building that doesn’t give away much information about the inside,”
      “But when you go inside, it should be this animal and diamond thing,” he continued.
      Bedrooms feature murals by Konstantin KakaniasTo achieve the highly decorative and detailed interior Louboutin collaborated with designer Carolina Irving, who acted as an advisor on textile creation and decoration, and ceramic tile designer and interiors consultant Patricia Medina.
      Hand-painted frescoes by Greek artist Konstantin Kakanias cover the walls, while bedrooms features wardrobes with Maison Gatti French latticework.
      Playful murals adorn walls throughout the hotelBespoke woodwork and carpentry was completed by Spanish master craftsmen company Los Tres Juanes. Throughout the project Louboutin used Alentjo tiles, as well as giving the Italian artist Giuseppe Ducrot a blank slate to design sculptural ceramic details for the facade.
      The hotel restaurant, called Xtian, features a Klove Studio mural chandelier and a bespoke bar covered in hammered silver leaf, which was made by Seville-based liturgical goldsmiths Orfebrería Villarreal.
      The bar is made from silver by Spanish goldsmithsSpeaking to Dezeen, Caiado described the project as “at the same time, the most extravagant and most traditional project I’ve ever done”.
      “The biggest challenge was balancing the different constellations of ideas for each space, so that it results in a harmonious way,” she explained.
      “Especially during construction, Christian was present and brought his own creative universe, but also a more tactile way of thinking and with an artistic component of searching for novelty, even when it came to traditional materials and techniques – almost as if the hotel was designed at the scale of the hand of those who built it.”
      Local Atlentjo tiles are used throughout the projectOther recent boutique hotels featured on Dezeen include Dorothée Meilichzon’s revamp of Cowley Manor Experimental and Beata Heuman’s interiors for Hôtel de la Boétie in Paris.
      Photography is by Ambroise Tézenas.

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      Keiji Ashizawa Design and Norm Architects create “honest” Trunk Hotel in Tokyo

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      An exposed raw concrete facade fronts the Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park, which Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design and Danish firm Norm Architects conceived as a minimalist retreat in the heart of the city.

      Marking the third location in a trio of Trunk hotels in Tokyo, the design of the boutique hotel was rooted in the concept of “urban recharge”, according to Trunk chief creative officer Masayuki Kinoshita.
      Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park features a raw concrete facadeThe hotel group said the idea was to balance the opposing elements of tradition and modernity as well as nature and the city and the melding of both Japanese and European craft.
      Keiji Ashizawa Design created a textured concrete aggregate facade for the seven-storey building, which is punctuated with steel-lined balconies and overlooks Yoyogi Park’s lush treetops.
      Guest rooms feature a muted colour and material paletteThe studio worked with Norm Architects to design the minimalist interior, accessed via a copper-clad entrance.

      A total of 20 guest rooms and five suites were dressed in a muted colour and material palette featuring hardwood flooring and plush Hotta Carpet-designed rugs informed by traditional Japanese architecture.
      Paper-cord chairs and tapered washi pendant lights contribute to the minimalist designDelicate rattan partition walls delineate spaces within the rooms, which open out onto the building’s balconies that were fitted with slanted ceilings in order to encourage sunlight into each room “as if mimicking the gentle transitions of a day”.
      “It’s been an interesting journey for us to find the right balance between a space that is relaxed and vibrant at the same time,” said Norm Architects co-founder Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.
      The interiors were designed to be both “relaxed and vibrant”The rooms are also characterised by paper-cord chairs and tapered washi pendant lights as well as abstract artworks, amorphous vases and grainy floor-to-ceiling bathroom tiles.
      On the ground floor, oak seating designed by Norm Architects for Karimoku features in the hotel restaurant, which includes a striking copper-clad pizza oven and the same rattan accents that can be found in the guest rooms.
      Rattan accents can also be found in the hotel restaurant”It is a very unique and gratifying experience in the sense that the architecture, interior and furniture, as well as the attention to detail, have created a space with such a strong sense of unity,” said Keiji Ashizawa Design.
      An open-air pool club is located on the sixth floor of the hotel.

      Keiji Ashizawa and Norm Architects design tactile interiors for “hotel in the sky”

      Sand-blasted concrete flooring was paired with thin bluey-green tiles that make up the infinity swimming pool, which overlooks the park below.
      A “glowing” firepit can also be set alight after dark, intended to create a soothing contrast with the bright Tokyo skyline.
      The Trunk Hotel features a rooftop infinity poolThe city’s first Trunk Hotel opened in Shibuya in 2017, while the second location is an offbeat one-room hotel in the metropolis’s Kagurazaka neighbourhood featuring its own miniature nightclub.
      The photography is by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.

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      Dorothée Meilichzon nods to Alice in Wonderland for Cotswolds hotel interior

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      French interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon has created the interior for boutique hotel Cowley Manor Experimental, adding chequerboard details and hidden keyholes to the rooms of the former country house.

      Meilichzon drew on the history of the Cowley Manor Experimental, which is said to have inspired author Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland, when designing the interior for the hotel.
      According to the hotel, Caroll was walking in the gardens of the then Cowley Manor with Alice Liddell – for whom he wrote Alice in Wonderland – when he saw a rabbit disappear down a hole under a hedge.
      Nodding to the chessboard around which the classic story is constructed, Meilichzon designed bespoke chequerboard carpets that were produced by Hartley & Tissier.
      The designer added baldachin beds and colourful accents to the bedroom suites”Alice is subtly spread all over the place,” the designer told Dezeen.

      “Small doors are hidden in the rooms for the White Rabbit, there are hidden keyholes, rabbit ears, hearts and spades on the checkerboard carpet,” she explained.
      “We have used the checkerboard in many ways: hand-painted, tiled, on fabrics and wallpaper.”
      Touches of rattan, mixed with strong colour, glossy lacquer and lava stone feature throughout the 36-room hotel. Large bedroom suites have baldachin beds and interiors accented with blurred maple and verdigris.
      The games room features chequerboard rugsThe project, which Meilichzon designed for Experimental Group, saw her update an existing hotel at the site, which sits within 55 acres of Cotswolds countryside. The hotel also incorporates a spa, restaurant, cocktail bar, lounge, library and living rooms.
      Other than respecting the heritage-listed elements of the property, Meilichzon had full design freedom.
      Heritage-listed elements of the existing Cowley Manor were preserved”Historical buildings are something we are used to; we work a lot in Europe and often in very old buildings,” the designer said.
      “So we always try to respect them and start from there: the shape of the space, an architectural detail, a listed element.”

      Hotel Il Palazzo Experimental designed to be “deeply rooted” in its Venetian setting

      Meilichzon combined classical and contemporary elements, keeping all historical listed elements from the building, such as doors, wooden panels and windows.
      However, she added “some modernity through the furniture, the geometric patterns and colours,” she said.
      Hearts derived from the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland are worked into the stair carpet”Colour is everything, I am really not a grey and beige person,” explained Meilichzon.
      The hotel also features a restaurant and cocktail bar by chef Jackson Boxer that is focused on Cowley Manor’s kitchen garden, which has increased in size and is growing wider varieties of produce. The cocktail bar features a lacquered blue bar and tables.
      The bar has blurred walnut panelling and blue lacquered tablesMeilichzon, founder of Paris-based design agency Chzon, is a frequent collaborator of Experimental Group and has designed the interiors for several of its properties.
      “I see my work for Experimental Group as separate pieces but with a common DNA – the same hand. Because they are context-based, a hotel in Menorca cannot look the same as one in Venice or in the Cotswolds,” she said.
      Earlier this year, she gave a bohemian refresh to Ibiza’s first hotel, now called the Montesol Experimental, and has also renovated a Belle Epoque-era hotel in Biarritz, France.
      The photography is by Mr Tripper.

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      The Lodge hotel takes over 500-year-old farmhouse in Mallorca

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      A roughly-hewn stone trough and a traditional mill for pressing olive oil were repurposed by interior designer Pilar García-Nieto within this farmhouse-turned-hotel near Mallorca’s Serra de Tramuntana mountain range.

      The Lodge is the latest boutique hotel from Único Hotels, tucked away inside a 157-hectare estate filled with centenarian almond and olive trees, lavender fields and 20 kilometres of hiking trails.
      The Lodge is set in a converted Mallorcan farmhouseAll of the hotel’s public spaces and six of its guest rooms are housed inside a converted 16th-century farmhouse, which was renovated from the ground up.
      “To be able to enjoy a 500-year-old house is a privilege,” García-Nieto told Dezeen. “Many generations have gathered behind those walls. It is this spirit of a family home that we have tried to preserve.”
      The building’s original stone trough sink now acts as a fountainA further 18 suites were dotted across the grounds, set in newly constructed cabins modelled on the few remaining walls of the farm’s outbuildings.

      Although The Lodge’s interiors are largely clean and minimal, traces of the estate’s agricultural past were left to peek out everywhere throughout the hotel.
      A traditional olive oil press decorates the receptionThe farm’s original tafona – a stone mill used for making olive oil – now stands in the reception in front of a wall of fridges filled with wine from local vineyards.
      “Aesthetically it is unbeatable,” García-Nieto said. “Either you are lucky enough to have one or it is impossible to replicate it.”
      “That is why it was important for us to preserve the one we have, and to give it the great protagonism it deserves.”
      Some of the building’s original stone walls are left exposedSome of the building’s original stone walls were left exposed on the interior while the huge trough sink that stood in the former kitchen now acts as a water fountain near the entrance.
      These period details were complemented with a selection of new and vintage pieces, sourced from second-hand shops in the nearby village of Consell and further afield.
      The lounge is traversed by a modular ceramic screenAmong them is an antique French tapestry that was suspended above a modern console table at the entrance. Nearby, in the hotel’s restaurant Singular, contemporary art hangs next to French bronze wall sconces from the Napoleonic period.
      Here, guests can eat in a high-ceilinged dining room or on a leafy terrace with clean-lined metal garden furniture, overlooking the hotel’s glistening infinity pool and the surrounding coppices.

      The Olive Houses are off-grid retreats hidden in Mallorca’s mountains

      The rugged nature of the nearby Tramuntana mountains informed The Lodge’s interior in the form of its earthy colour and material palette.
      Located right off the reception, the lounge combines blackened timber tables with rattan stools. And an original mortar found in the farmhouse is displayed inside a towering antique shelving unit from France.
      An antique French shelving unit is used to display ceramicsAt the centre of the room, a row of sandy beige sofas backs onto a biombo screen made from stacked ceramic modules.
      “It was a lot of fun to assemble it,” García-Nieto said. “It was like playing Tetris between five people.”
      The guest suites are finished in a colour-sparse but texture-heavy paletteCeramics also feature heavily throughout the rest of The Lodge, with many left over from the farmhouse and others made by local craftsmen.
      Among them are the decorative vases found in each guest room, which are handmade from black clay by a master potter.
      “We love what pottery represents – an element so closely linked to the earth that man has used since ancient times to turn it into essential pieces for his way of life,” García-Nieto said.
      Each suite has its own patioThe 18 suites that aren’t set inside the main farmhouse can be accessed via a short ride on one of the hotel’s bicycles or golf buggies.
      Modelled on the renovated farmhouse with its irregular gables, each of these cabins features a dramatic single-pitch roof with the ceiling beams left exposed on the inside.
      The same texture-heavy but colour-sparse palette from the main building is also carried over into the suites.
      Guests can navigate the estates using bikesInterest is provided by combining different kinds of timber, from the pale, raw-edged coat stands to the Japanese-style charred-wood stools.
      All of the suites have a private Mallorcan patio to provide a greater connection to the surrounding farmland, which the hotel is using to grow produce for the Singular restaurant and for Finca Serena – Único Hotels’ other outpost on the island.
      A long infinity pool provides respite from the heatThe Tramuntana mountain range occupies roughly 30 per cent of Mallorca’s terrain and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its rich agricultural history.
      Much of the surrounding area is still used for farming today – for example by the Son Juliana wine company, which has a solar-powered winery at the foot of the mountain range that is made from local sandstone with wicker sunshades and cork-insulated roofs.
      Increasingly, tourists are also being drawn away from Mallorca’s pristine beaches and towards Tramuntana’s dramatic landscapes, with the opening of several new hotels including The Olive Houses – a group of off-grid guesthouses, where craggy boulders jut through the walls and into the interiors.
      The photography is by Montse Garriga.

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      Emma Martí celebrates Menorca's architectural heritage in Hevresac Hotel

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      Spanish architect Emma Martí has converted an 18th-century townhouse on the Balearic island of Menorca into the intimate eight-bedroom Hevresac Hotel, taking over all of its five floors from basement to attic.

      The building, which originally belonged to a local merchant and privateer, is set in the historic centre of Mahón – a former trade hub that still bears traces of French and English culture after spending many years under colonial rule.
      Emma Martí has converted a five-storey townhouse into the Hevresac HotelHevresac owners Ignasi Truyol and Stephanie Mahé brought Martí on board for the renovation in part because she was an old friend, who they thought could be trusted to conserve and enhance the spirit and character of the building.
      Martí’s aim for the project was to fill the building with light and life while preserving its wealth of existing architectural elements, from wooden beams and mosaic flooring to stucco walls and staircases.
      “The aim of the project was to create a fresh and inspiring hotel that values the beauty of the existing architecture,” said the hotel’s owners.

      Original details such as parquet floors were retained throughoutHevresac’s original floors, covered variously in wooden parquet and encaustic cement tiles, were carefully preserved.
      In areas where it was not possible to retain the original elements, Martí chose a new design language using modern equivalents of these original materials, including micro-cement.
      Hevresac Hotel has only eight guest roomsThe renovation process revealed both the stucco on the walls and the original paintwork on the beams, uncovering part of the building’s hidden history.
      The original wrought iron columns in the living room are now a celebrated feature. Less noticeable but equally interesting is the Masonic symbolism on the wrought-iron railing of the marble staircase at the entrance.
      Solid timber was used to frame private bathrooms in each of the bedroomsMartí also wanted to preserve the original room structure of the townhouse.
      To allow for this, she added private bathrooms within each of the existing bedrooms using a lightweight timber framing system made of solid Flanders pine, while three-ply spruce boards form partitions, headboards and wardrobes in each bedroom.
      “Martí’s intention is for the new materials to coexist and harmonise with the originals, providing a new language, lightness and contemporaneity,” the owners said.

      Artchimboldi Menorca is a work retreat inside an abandoned girls’ school

      A new staircase – also utilising spruce ply – now coexists with the original staircase, providing an alternative route through the Hevresac Hotel.
      The material is key to the contemporary language of the new insertions, which sit clearly differentiated alongside layers of the building’s past.
      “I like to work with an honest and frank attitude towards the island’s architectural heritage,” Martí told Dezeen. “I wanted it to be clear what our intervention was, not to highlight it but to highlight the value of what existed in the building.”
      Three-ply spruce boards form partitions and wardrobes in each of the bedroomsTo fill the spaces with natural light, several skylights were added on the upper floor, with one above the main stairwell as well as three new openings in the facade.
      In the basement, the vaulted ceiling made of local marés stone required an intervention to lighten the space.
      Martí’s response was to remove a bay of the existing vault and install a new, more comfortable staircase to link the ground floor with the basement and flood the space with light.
      Martí also added a new spruce ply staircaseHevresac’s choice of furnishings reflects Mahón’s cosmopolitan history, including an eclectic assembly of antique, vintage and contemporary pieces from all over Europe.
      Among them are Nanimarquina rugs, Achille Castiglioni lights and some of Marcel Breuer’s Cesca chairs, as well as items from Menorcan antique dealers including Alcolea & Kraus and Antics Antigüedades.
      “It’s a kind of synergy,” the owners said. “Together, the components project a warm, creative and personal composition, which is more than the algebraical sum of those individual pieces.”
      The hotel has a small terraceMartí, who founded her self-titled studio Emma Martí Arquitectura in Menorca in 2013, has since completed a number of projects on the island.
      Among them is a work retreat inside an abandoned girls’ school, with design-driven spaces where businesses can host meetings or team-building sessions.
      The photography is by Pol Viladoms

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      Irina Kromayer designs Château Royal hotel to feel “authentic” rather than retro

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      Interior architect Irina Kromayer has overseen the design of Berlin’s Château Royal hotel, creating a series of eclectic spaces that reference the heyday of the German capital at the turn of the 20th century.

      The 93-room Château Royal is located in the heart of Mitte, on a street parallel to Unter den Linden boulevard and close to the iconic Brandenburg Gate.
      Château Royal has 93 rooms (top image) as well as a fireside lounge (above)  The hotel comprises two buildings dating from 1850 and 1910, as well as a newer building and roof extension designed by David Chipperfield Architects.
      The renovation project, led by Kromayer with support from Swiss architect Etienne Descloux and interior designer Katariina Minits, aims to reflect the periods during which the heritage-listed buildings were constructed.
      Built-in joinery features in all the guest rooms”Our design goal was to provide the traveller with an ‘authentic’ experience of being in Berlin, using materials and colours that traditionally stand for the city’s heyday,” Kromayer told Dezeen.

      Oak panelling, art nouveau tiles, sisal carpets and hardware in brass and nickel were incorporated into the scheme based on the finishings commonly found in Berlin’s historic buildings.
      This was informed by the storage walls of traditional West Berlin apartmentsKromayer designed much of the furniture herself – as well as in collaboration with Porto-based German designer Christian Haas – in order to achieve a seamless merging of contemporary and classic details.
      “We didn’t want the hotel to be retro but rather to feel classic so we simplified things into less decorative shapes,” she explained.
      In addition, vintage pieces were sourced from all over Europe to give a lived-in “patina” to the interior and explore a more sustainable approach to furniture sourcing.
      Loupiotte pendant lights emphasise the building’s high ceilingsThe pendant lights for the guest rooms were created in collaboration with Berlin-based manufacturer Loupiotte and are intended to emphasise the building’s high ceilings.
      Made from Japanese paper and brass, the lamps are based on a 1920s design from Josef Hoffmann, one of the co-founders of the Wiener Werkstätte art movement.

      Batek Architekten renovates historic cinema in pastel and earth-coloured hues

      The hotel’s custom-made wooden beds feature headboards crafted from Viennese wickerwork. Kromayer also created outdoor lanterns that reference traditional Berlin street lights and include unique glass panels made by artist Paul Hance.
      Built-in joinery found in each of the bedrooms was informed by the partition walls with integrated storage, which are typical of traditional West Berlin apartments.
      Glazed blue tiles can be found in the guest bathroomsPaintings by early 20th-century artists associated with the expressionist and new objectivity movements influenced the hotel’s bold colour scheme, which is applied across surfaces including tiles and upholstery textiles, along with curated artworks.
      The interior features colourful glazed bricks and tiles similar to those found in Berlin’s underground stations, as well as stained glass and coloured marble.
      Stained-glass panels brighten up the hotel barThe hotel bar is made from tin – a material Kromayer says was widely used at the turn of the century but is rarely found in contemporary German interiors. Nickel and chrome bathroom fixtures were chosen to reference the modernist and Bauhaus design movements.
      Alongside its guest rooms, which include 13 suites and an apartment, Château Royal also accommodates a lobby, bar, restaurant, private dining room, fireside lounge and winter garden.
      A Karl Holmqvist artwork hangs inside the hotel’s Dóttir eateryBuilt-in carpentry used throughout the public areas helps to create a sense of consistency with the bedrooms, while vintage furniture, rugs and lamps made for the hotel by KL Ceramics add to the eclectic feel of the spaces.
      The hotel’s restaurant, called Dóttir, features upholstered oak seating by Bauhaus designer Erich Dieckmann. Artworks including a neon piece by Karl Holmqvist bring character to the ground-floor eatery.
      Other recent renovation projects from Berlin include a pistachio-toned revamp of one of the city’s oldest cinemas and a hotel housed inside an abandoned women’s prison.
      The photography is by Felix Brueggemann.

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