A hotel can have the highest thread count in town, serve an excellent martini, and boast a bathroom bigger than most city residences. But for a few select addresses, it’s the building itself that pulls in the crowd.
Conceived by some of the biggest architects in the business – from Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry to Norman Foster, and Renzo Piano – Elite Traveler has rounded up a host of hotels where the architecture is as much a draw as the destination. Some command the skyline and are impossible to miss, others are deliberately understated, but all make a first impression well before you reach the check-in desk.
The luxury hotels designed by famous architects
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Norman Foster
The Dodler Grand / The Lana, Dorchester Collection / Capella Singapore Foster’s work is often associated with glass towers and futuristic skylines, but his hotel projects reveal a more adaptable side to the architect. Through Foster + Partners, he has designed hotels that range from contemporary skyscrapers to careful restorations of historic buildings.
At The Dolder Grand in Zurich, the practice restored the 19th-century hotel and added contemporary glass wings overlooking the Alps. In Dubai, The Lana, part of Dorchester Collection, showcases a more modern interpretation of Foster’s work, with a sculptural 30-storey tower, panoramic views, and interiors by Paris-based designer François Champsaur. At Capella Singapore on Sentosa Island, Foster + Partners took a different approach again, restoring two 1880s colonial buildings and adding new low-rise structures that preserve the site’s historic character.
See also: The Invite-Only Homes and Hotels of Fashion Designers You Can Stay In
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Zaha Hadid
ROMEO Roma / Morpheus Hotel, Macau Few architects made buildings look quite as futuristic as Zaha Hadid. The Iraqi-British architect, who became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize in 2004, brought that language to hotels around the world, including the futuristic Morpheus Hotel in Macau, a 772-room resort known for its exoskeleton-like façade. In Rome, the last hotel project she designed before she died in 2016, her approach was more restrained – well, for Hadid that is. ROMEO Roma, a 74-room hotel housed within a restored 16th-century palazzo, combines historic architecture with contemporary interiors, including sculptural staircases, curved surfaces, and dramatic lighting.
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Philippe Starck
Bach Paris / La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich Philippe Starck has had a hand in some of the world’s most recognizable hotels, helping to define the boutique luxury movement that emerged in the 1990s. Unlike many architects on this list, Starck’s influence is usually felt from the inside out: through furniture, materials, color, and the overall contemporary atmosphere of a space.
At Brach Paris, he transformed a former postal sorting centre into a 59-room hotel in the city’s 16th arrondissement, combining mid-century design, African influences, and a rooftop vegetable garden with views across Paris. At La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich, he reimagined a 1909 lakeside hotel with a more residential approach, filling the interiors with antique furniture, rich fabrics, and unexpected details.
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Renzo Piano
Shangri-La The Shard London’s skyline changed permanently when The Shard opened in 2012. Designed by Renzo Piano, the 95-storey tower was conceived as a ‘vertical city,’ bringing offices, restaurants, residences, and a hotel together under one glass façade. The Shangri-La occupies floors 34 to 52, with 202 rooms overlooking the capital from some of the highest hotel floors in Western Europe. Piano is known for his use of light and transparency, and here the design is deliberately simple, as the entirely glass exterior puts London (and those stomach-turning high-rise views) on full display.
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Frank Lloyd Wright
Arizona Biltmore Long before sustainability and biophilic design became hospitality buzzwords, Frank Lloyd Wright was exploring how buildings could work with their environments. The American architect developed the philosophy of ‘organic architecture,’ and his influence can be seen at Arizona Biltmore, which opened in Phoenix in 1929. While the hotel was designed by Wright’s former student Albert Chase McArthur, Wright consulted on the project and contributed the distinctive textile-block design that became its signature.
See also: The Luxury Hotels Where Marilyn Monroe Checked In (and You Can, Too)
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Tom Wright
Jumeirah Burj Al Arab Tom Wright’s Jumeirah Burj Al Arab became one of the instantly recognizable hotels in the world when it opened in 1999. The architect, working with AtkinsRéalis, created the sail-shaped silhouette in homage to Dubai’s maritime heritage, turning the hotel into an instant global symbol. Beyond the famous exterior, the hotel’s design was an exercise in spectacle: soaring atriums, gold adorning everything and everywhere, and interiors designed to feel unapologetically extravagant.
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Jeanne Gang
St Regis Chicago Rising above Chicago’s skyline, the St Regis carries a significant architectural footnote: at 101 storeys, it is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang, has built her reputation around architecture that responds to its surroundings, often exploring the relationship between people, nature, and cities. Sitting at the lower section of the tower, the 101-room St Regis Chicago maximizes views across Lake Michigan and the city, thanks to Gang’s clever twister-tower design.
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Mies van der Rohe
Langham Chicago Another pick from the Windy City, but Chicago is also home to one of the rare opportunities to sleep inside a Mies van der Rohe skyscraper. The Langham occupies the former IBM Building, completed in 1973 as one of the architect’s final major works. Mies’ influence on modern architecture remains enormous, with his ‘less is more’ approach defining generations of glass and steel buildings. Today, the 316-room hotel retains the original structure, including its distinctive façade and carefully balanced proportions, while adapting the space into a contemporary luxury stay.
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Tadao Ando
Benesse House Self-taught Japanese architect Tadao Ando has created some of the world’s most admired cultural buildings across South East Asia, but his hospitality projects offer a rare opportunity to experience his work at a slower pace. Benesse House on Naoshima Island, which opened in 1992, was designed as both a museum and hotel, with just ten rooms spread across four accommodation types and artworks by artists including Yayoi Kusama and James Turrell woven into the experience.
See also: Skip the Museums, These Are the Luxury Art Hotels Worth Traveling For
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Frank Gehry
Hotel Marqués de Riscal A vineyard hotel in Rioja may seem an unlikely addition to Frank Gehry’s portfolio, but Hotel Marqués de Riscal has become one of his most recognizable projects. The architect behind the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened the 61-room property in 2006, creating a striking structure of titanium, steel, and glass rising above the surrounding vines. The colors of the estate’s wine bottles inspired the metallic ribbons that wrap around the building, reflecting shades of purple, gold, and silver across the landscape. It remains Gehry’s only hotel project, making a stay here a rare chance to experience his work beyond museums and cultural landmarks.
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Jean Nouvel
Rosewood São Paulo Jean Nouvel has designed everything from museums and concert halls to luxury hotels, including the striking Hotel Puerta América in Madrid. At Rosewood São Paulo, his first project in Brazil, the architect worked alongside Philippe Starck on the transformation of a former maternity hospital into a 160-room hotel. The centerpiece is a vertical garden tower that rises above the historic buildings, covered with more than 10,000 plants. Nouvel’s design draws on São Paulo’s relationship with nature and urban density, creating a hotel where greenery is woven directly into the architecture.
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Kerry Hill
Aman Tokyo Australian architect Kerry Hill spent much of his career defining the look of contemporary Asian luxury hospitality. After training in Singapore, he became known for creating hotels that responded closely to their surroundings, working closely with Aman on several of their properties across Asia.
He designed nine hotels for the luxury brand, working on Amanwella in Sri Lanka, where his approach owes much to Geoffrey Bawa, the Sri Lankan architect whose tropical modernism pioneered the idea of architecture working in harmony with climate and landscape. Before he died in 2018, Hill was also the mind behind some of the brand’s most admired properties, including Aman Tokyo and Aman Kyoto.
