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      Ten plant-filled hotel interiors that feel close to nature

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      A greenhouse-cum-dining room and a miniature forest in a skyscraper are among the verdant hotel interiors featured in our latest lookbook.

      Whether tiny succulents or fully-grown trees, plants can help connect an interior to its surroundings, provide an oasis of calm away from city life, or act as living space-dividers to break up an open-plan interior.
      These ten hotel interiors from the Dezeen archive show how adding greenery to public spaces can help give them a friendlier, more organic feel.
      This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing bedrooms with clever storage solutions, escapist holiday homes and interiors by Ukranian designers.
      Photo is by Katsumasa TanakaShiroiya Hotel, Japan, by Sou Fujimoto

      Tiled floors, wooden furnishings and a plethora of plants create a piazza-like feel in the skylit atrium of this hotel in Maebashi (top and above), which serves as a reception, restaurant and lounge.
      To create the giant four-storey space, Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto dismantled all of the walls and floors of the original 1970s building, while a number of new guest suites and a Finnish sauna are housed in a grass-covered extension.
      Find out more about Shiroiya Hotel ›
      Photo is by Edmund DabneyBermonds Locke, UK, by Holloway Li
      Interiors studio Holloway Li drew on the sun-scorched landscapes of California when designing this London hotel, in order to provide guests with a sense of escapism.
      Mirrored ceilings in the reception create the impression of shimmering desert mirages, while huge planters filled with cacti and succulents separate the co-working area from the cocktail bar and restaurant.
      Find out more about Bermonds Locke ›
      Photo is by Feng ShaoIntercontinental Chongqing Raffles City, China, by CL3
      Located on level 42 of a 250-metre tall skyscraper complex, the lobby lounge of Chongqing’s Intercontinental hotel was designed to resemble a “mountain landscape in the sky”.
      Here, guests can take in views of the surrounding city from a number of curved wooden seating boots, nestled amongst the trees sprouting up from the glossy stone floor.
      Find out more about Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City ›
      Photo is by Chase DanielLine Austin, USA, by Sean Knibb and Michael Hsu
      Architect Michael Hsu and interior designer Sean Knibb turned a mid-century tower in Austin into a modern hotel by stripping the structure back to its bones and opening it up to views of the nearby Colorado River.
      In the lobby, hanging plants are suspended from the ceiling in golden vessels and help to reinforce this connection to the outdoors, while walls and furnishings are finished in muted hues of duck egg blue and ballet-slipper pink.
      Find out more about The Line Austin ›
      Photo is by Simon UptonNoMad London, UK, by Roman and Williams
      The first international outpost from American hospitality chain NoMad is set in a former magistrates court and police station in London’s Covent Garden.
      A former yard at the centre of the building was transformed into a glass-domed restaurant, filled with freestanding trees and climbing plants that wind their way down two tiers of columns.
      Find out more about NoMad London ›
      Photo is by Spencer LowellDurham Hotel, USA, by Commune Design
      LA studio Commune Design drew on wide-ranging references when designing the retro interiors of this North Carolina hotel, ranging from the work of Bauhaus designers Josef and Anni Albers to the arts and crafts aesthetic of the state’s pioneering art school Black Mountain College.
      The converted mid-century bank now houses 54 guest suites, a rooftop lounge and an eponymous restaurant, where towering greenery surrounds leather-upholstered banquet seats.
      Find out more about the Durham Hotel ›
      Photo is by Adel FerreiraBabylonstoren, South Africa, by Malherbe Rust Architects
      Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and turmeric are among the aromatic plants found in the greenhouse-cum-dining hall of the Babylonstoren farmhouse hotel in South Africa’s Cape Winelands.
      An eight-metre-long granite dining table with water running down its centre takes up the centre of the space, where guests can sample foods infused with different spices while learning about their historical value.
      Find out more about Babylonstoren ›
      Image courtesy of Kelly WearstlerDowntown LA Proper, USA, by Kelly Wearstler
      Guest enter the Proper hotel in Downtown LA via an ornate archway, which is flanked by column-like cacti in rustic pots and decorated with a hand-painted mural designed by local artist Abel Macias that draws on the flora and fauna of Latin American folktales.
      The 148-room hotel combines 136 different kinds of tiles and an eclectic mix of stylistic references, informed by Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish and Portuguese design.
      Find out more about Downtown LA Proper ›
      Photo is by Philip VileHotel Castello di Reschio, Italy, by Benedikt Bolza
      Count Benedikt Bolza and his family lived in a 1,000-year-old castle in the Umbrian countryside for a decade while working to convert it into a sprawling hotel and creating custom furniture for its 36 suites.
      The verdant Palm Court is a new structural addition modelled on iron-and-glass Victorian conservatories, which is intended as a space for reading and conversation.
      Find out more about Castello di Reschio ›
      Photo is by Brooke ShanesyPalm Heights, Cayman Islands, by Gabriella Khalil
      Flea market finds from Paris, Los Angeles and Mexico populate this boutique hotel in Grand Cayman, including collectible design pieces like Mario Bellini sofas, Ingo Maurer lights and an Ettore Sottsass rug.
      The interior is styled to look like a 1970s-era Caribbean mansion, with verdant palm trees and other foliage brought inside in a nod to its location on the well-known white-sand Seven Mile Beach.
      Find out more about Palm Heights ›
      This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing bedrooms with clever storage solutions, escapist holiday homes and interiors by Ukranian designers.

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      Ministry of Design creates lush “banking conservatory” for Citibank Singapore

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      Offices and meeting rooms are nestled among tropical plants in this wealth management centre in Singapore by local studio Ministry of Design.Conceived as a “banking conservatory”, the verdant scheme won an international competition launched by Citibank Singapore last year that invited entrants to reimagine the conventional interiors often associated with financial institutions.

      Ministry of Design has created a conservatory within the Citi Wealth Hub
      The brief set out by Citibank was to create a wealth management centre dedicated to its high net-worth clients, over an area of 2,787 square metres across floors six to nine of an office building on Singapore’s Orchard Road.
      Across its four levels, the Citi Wealth Hub has more than 30 client advisory rooms alongside flexible office and event spaces, making it the bank’s largest wealth advisory hub in the world.

      Levels seven and eight are filled with sinuous brass planters

      The site is distinguished by its soaring atrium with tinted glass walls and skylights that create ideal conditions for growing tropical plants.
      In recognition of this, the studio proposed an office scheme based around a lush conservatory that would anchor the entire office.

      Seating alcoves are nestled into the greenery
      On floors seven and eight, a series of social spaces are nestled within the greenery, including a bar, observation deck, garden pods, banquette seating and a central garden lounge with a honed Grigio Carnico marble bar.
      “The choreographed verdant and lush greenery evokes an atmosphere where everything seems to flourish in a natural and sustainable manner – a nod to the ideals of wealth management,” said Ministry of Design’s (MOD) director of development Joy Chan Seah.

      Garden pods replace traditional meeting rooms
      “Although drawing from the virtues of biophilic design, the scheme aims to create a cultured conservatory and not a wild forest,” she added. “Introducing a measure of control and order amidst nature’s abundance, we created a series of carefully detailed planter box arrangements.”
      These sinuous, hairline brass containers are lit from below to signpost pathways and meeting spaces among the foliage.

      They are outfitted with TV screens and acoustic panels
      On the seventh floor, garden pods were installed as an alternative to traditional meeting rooms. These are lined with acoustic panels and equipped with curved TV screens, concealed power points and cables for connecting laptops.
      In collaboration with landscape architecture studio ICN Design, MOD carefully selected plants that would adapt easily to an air-conditioned environment, thrive even in the shade and create four distinct vertical layers to offer varied views at every level.

      The planters are lit from below to help signpost pathways
      For the tallest level, the designers selected betel nut feature palms, while elegant, feathery parlour palms sit below their crowns at the second level with bushy saplings and big-leafed arums in the foreground.
      Feathery Boston ferns, rosette-leafed bird’s nest ferns and money plants occupy the lowest level, fringed by jungle-floor plants that are spotlit at night.

      Marble planters decorate the eighth floor
      The eighth floor is dedicated to Citigold Private Clients, leading the design team to opt for more luxurious materials such as walnut and marble, while an observation deck offers aerial views of the conservatory on the level below.

      SelgasCano completes plant-filled co-working space inside Lisbon market hall for Second Home

      Since this floor is less open to natural daylight, the planting here is smaller in both the horizontal and vertical scale, with planters set between desk alcoves and pathways.

      Walnut wood lines the walls to create a high-end finish
      Floors six and nine were conceived as “backstage areas” offering office space for the bank’s 210 relationship managers.
      They hold a variety of hot desks, collaboration tables and a town hall for meetings.

      Collaborative tables are fringed in planters
      Large planters help create a calming work environment on these levels and are filled with shade-loving plants that, in the wild, would grow low on the rainforest floor.
      Throughout the office, the temperature of the lighting is programmed to mirror human’s natural circadian rhythm and the movement of the sun, changing from blue to reddish undertones over the course of the day.

      A marble reception centres the eighth floor
      To keep the plants healthy the project uses a hydroponic system, in which plants are held in place by absorbent granules instead of soil.
      Grow lights with special LED bulbs that mimic natural sunlight are integrated within the recessed architectural lighting.

      Integrated lighting follows humans’ circadian rhythm
      “We’ve had really good responses from Citibank and from their clients so far,” the studio said. “They’ve said this is unlike any other wealth management hub they have seen.”

      10 plant-covered buildings that point to a greener future

      Studies have shown that access to green spaces, or even pictures of nature, can benefit workers’ mental health and improve performance in the office.
      As a result, a plethora of plant-filled workplace interiors have sprung up over the past few years, including this co-working space in Lisbon with over 1,000 potted plants and trees, while tropical flora provides privacy for workers inside an office in Utrecht.
      Photography is by KHOOGJ.

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      Austin Maynard Architects adds plant-filled conservatory in centre of Newry house

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      Austin Maynard Architects has transformed the quality of light inside a narrow Melbourne house, by creating a greenhouse-like space at its centre. The Melbourne-based studio made only small changes to two-storey house Newry, but has made it feel much more spacious and bright. No rooms were moved around, instead new openings were made to allow natural light […] More