01
Paris, France
Hôtel Dame des Arts
The address is 4 rue Danton, on the Left Bank. Saint-Germain lies to one side and the Latin Quarter to the other, so most of the old city is a walk away.
It opened in early 2023 in a reworked building. Interiors lean on design and collected pieces, and many rooms have their own balcony. That is unusual at this scale in central Paris.
The rooftop bar is the part people talk about. It runs seasonally and looks out across the roofs to Notre-Dame, Saint-Germain's bell tower and Montmartre beyond.
02
Madrid, Spain
Hotel Puerta America
Nineteen architecture and design studios were each given part of this building. The result opened in 2005 on Avenida de América, east of the centre.
Each floor was handled by a different name. Zaha Hadid took one, David Chipperfield another, and Norman Foster worked on a floor with the sculptor Eduardo Chillida. Jean Nouvel designed the façade.
Staying here means choosing a floor as much as a room. Corridors, doors and bathrooms change character from one level to the next, so the lift ride becomes part of the visit.
03
Dallas, United States
The Joule
Downtown Dallas still has a handful of early skyscrapers. The Joule occupies one of them, a neo-Gothic tower from the 1920s on Main Street.
Contemporary art is hung through the lobby, the corridors and the public rooms. The collection is part of the daily route between the door, the lift and the restaurants.
Up top, a narrow pool juts out from the building's edge over the street below. Rooms below are restrained, which lets the art and the old stonework carry the place.