This Moroccan hotel has welcomed celebrity guests through the decades since it first opened its doors in 1922. Now its new and luxurious extension is set to welcome a new generation of stars

Interior Design: Jacques Garcia

You may have heard of La Mamounia, or at least its star-studded relaunch party. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Salma Hayek and Orlando Bloom were among the highprofile guests who were given a sneak preview of the new-look hotel with suitably exotic interiors by French interior designer Jacques Garcia. (continue reading…)

To describe the four long-stay hotel apartments created out of this historic building as unique wouldn’t be an exaggeration, with a roof-top pool acting as a skylight to the floor below

Interiors: Residences - Gairwilliamson Architects & Wendy Williams-Watt; Bar & Restaurant - Battersbyhowat

An increasing number of so-called ‘extended stay’ hotels are opening up, but The Keefer is a whole lot different, largely thanks to its thoughtful design and architecture. (continue reading…)

The glory days of early motor racing live on in this contemporary and luxurious homage to art deco on the site of an historic racing circuit

In 1907 the country’s first motor racing circuit opened at Brooklands. Of the steeply banked track that carried the old-style drivers in leather helmets and goggles in their open-topped racers, only a few sections remain, but the new Brooklands Hotel more than a passing nod to its historic location.

The path of the race track’s Solomon Straight, over which the hotel’s modernist glass building is built, rolls out before you in quartz and granite in the floor of the reception, while the rich colour palette, leathers, textiles and chrome used throughout the hotel speaks reverently, albeit with a contemporary accent, of the site’s heritage. (continue reading…)

The Lavish and luxurious treatments at one of Beirut’s latest hotels is helping the city reestablish itself as a sophisticated destination
Interior Design: PYR

In a city that has spent decades rebuilding, consider this latest Four Seasons Beirut a metaphor for the contrast of the traditional Beirut of old and the shiny new Beirut of the 21^st century. Inside the 25-storey contemporary glass and steel tower is a store of  istorical and cultural influences. This is modern luxury, with a sensitive nod to the past. (continue reading…)

This hotel is a worthy addition to a new city aiming to be beautiful and functional

Architect: Heerim Architects and Planners
Interior designer: Dileonardo International

The new Sheraton Incheon Hotel is a first on several counts: it is the first deluxe five-star hotel in the new masterplanned city of Songdo; it is Korea’s first certified LEED hotel, and is the country’s first fully non-smoking hotel! (continue reading…)

Vibrant colours and contemporary furnishings welcome guests to this second Radisson Blu in Johannesburg by London-based interiors practice MKV Design

Architect: Werner Alberts
Interior designer: MKV Design

Beckoning guests in at ground level to the new Radisson Blu Gautrain in Johannesburg is a dramatic cherry-red, faceted wall sculpture that stretches 5m from floor to ceiling. (continue reading…)

A collection of elegant suites that pays homage to legendary fashion designers and models has opened in the heart of the city’s haute couture district

Interior design: Didier Gomez

Sitting in the heart of the Parisian houses of haute couture, in Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg is celebrating its links to the world of fashion with making a design statement of its own and adding a new collection of suites. (continue reading…)

Rare architecture, based in London and Paris, is an office for research, architecture and experimentation founded by Nathalie Rozencwajg and Michel da Costa Gonçalves. Its work ranges from individual objects to urban-scale projects and it also runs a studio at the Architectural Association. The practice’s approach is strong on research, focusing on the use of new materials and modes of design aiming at a durable development and construction. Rare won the Custerson Award for its wooden footbridge in Dorset and was involved in the final phase of the FEIDAD prize 2006, for a mass diversity project.

Have you ever converted a local government building before, and what unique challenges did this project present?
This is the first government building we have converted in the UK. Its eclectic nature and Grade 2 listed status presented a number of challenges. The Old Bethnal Green Town Hall had been vacated about 15 years earlier, and was as it had been left. The Cambridge Heath Road front of the building was completed in 1910, and the building was extended in 1939 along Patriot Square. (continue reading…)

When designers from France get together with a hotelier from Singapore and they turn their attention to a former Town Hall in London’s old East End, expect the unexpected

Design: Rare Architecture

An old town hall in the heart of London’s East End is perhaps not the first place you would expect to find being turned into a new luxury five-star hotel and apartment development, but that is exactly what Singapore based entrepreneur and hotelier Peng Loh (see also The Waterhouse, Shanghai, p46) has done. The hotel, a member of Design Hotels, is highly individual and eclectic, typifying Loh’s approach to the market. (continue reading…)

As a world-renowned architect Michael Graves really needs no introduction. Here Graves (far left) and Patrick Burke(left), studio head and principal-in-charge of Resorts World Sentosa discuss the project

Why decide now to have a hotel with your name on it?
Michael Graves: It was the client who proposed to name one of the hotels in the resort after me and to have its design reflect the ‘Michael Graves brand’. (continue reading…)