Best of Year: Hotel

Annie Block -- Interior Design, 12/1/2010 5:06:00 PM

Project: Mandarin Oriental
Firm: Patricia Urquiola
Location: Barcelona

A prolific furniture designer makes her hotel debut with a five-star chain’s first Spanish location. (It’s on the storied Passeig de Gràcia—Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló apartments are just steps away.) Partnering with Ferrater & Asociados and Juan Trias de Bes TDB Arqui­tectura, Patricia Urquiola handled virtually every aspect of the interiors. The result is a singular interpretation of understated luxury. Eastern details, evoking Mandarin Oriental’s Hong Kong heritage, are filtered through a Western prism. In the formal restaurant, abstracted­ flowers bloom on the orange silk carpet, complemented by clouds gold-leafed on sections of the ceiling. She also played with the concept of Asian screens, suspending geometric white PVC versions in the skylit double-height lounge, then repeating the motif on the acoustical wall covering. In the 98 guest rooms, shiny white wardrobes are meant to resemble Japanese lacquered boxes. Asia aside, it’s pure Urquiola: from sofas and stools to beds and benches.

Merit Winners:


Project: East
Firm: CL3 Architects
Location: Hong Kong
Standout: The restaurant’s orange-painted steel butterflies and the guest rooms’ fuchsia resin tyrannosaurs prove that this is no ordinary business hotel.


Project: St. Regis
Firm: Yabu Pushelberg
Location: Mexico City
Standout: A series of intimate rooms furnished with rich colors and textures, public spaces feel like a lavish home.


Project: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Firm: MarkZeff
Location: Las Vegas
Standout: Celebrity-driven artwork, graphic wallpaper, and oversize furniture are designed to appeal to the club kid and business executive­ alike.