Top 10 Hospitality Stories of 2022

Hospitality design is back and stronger than ever. From a stay in a luxury Airstream to a refreshed New York City landmark, these top projects showcase the best of hospitality design in 2022.

These Hospitality Projects Will Have You Booking a Plane Ticket ASAP

1. An Artful Restaurant Next to MoMA

In 53, a hip new restaurant next to the Museum of Modern Art, nearly three dozen giant curving fins that span the full width of the restaurant. Emerging from the street-level ceiling, they cascade down in front of the bistro, swoop underneath it, and finally wrap around the ceiling plane of the main dining room in a rainbow of colors. Given the proximity to a world-famous contemporary art museum, the ICrave team decided to approach the project not as interior design, but as sculpture or a painting. Read more.

2. A 2021 Best of Year Winner for Hotel Transformation

In the late 1920s, architect Henri Sauvage oversaw completion of a large art deco building for Parisian department store Samaritaine. A century later, the building was reimagined for LVMH, including a portion transformed into the luxury hotel Cheval Blanc Paris by Interior Design Hall of Fame member Peter Marino. The transformation integrated the work of French artists and artisans into every aspect of the design. Read more.

3. A Warsaw Brewery by NOKE Architects

Once the pride of Poland’s legendary beer culture, the Haberbusch and Schiele brewery and their ample Leżakownia cellars kept thirsty Europeans sated from 1846 until World War II. The location finally returned in the form of Food Hall Browary in 2021. Drinks are the heart of the space: a copper wine bar beckons imbibers, and a monumental cocktail bar boasts a chandelier of hundreds of glass plates. It’s the perfect spot to stop and contemplate the future while enjoying a beer in the place where Poland once perfected the brew. Read more.

4. A Chinese Hotel References the Silk Road

The Silk Road continues to fuel the imagination, bringing to mind rich palettes and textures. Hilton’s latest hotel in China, the Conrad Urumqi, offers its own nod to the historic trade route that once wove through Xinjiang. Toronto-based D’Lab Studio delved into local history and architecture when creating the hotel. Read more.

5. A Ballet Lovers Café in Montreal

In the lobby of the building that is home to Montréal’s Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, this café by Atelier Zébulon Perron is both stately and whimsical. It’s meant to serve those seeing performances, but the café is an event in itself. Vintage elements mix with custom ones throughout the space. Walnut tables wind through the café in unique shapes, and custom blush lamps above evoke the motion of dancing skirts. Read more.

6. The Renovation of the Historic Algonquin Hotel in New York

A New York City landmark and over a century old, the Algonquin Hotel deserved a thoughtful renovation. The team at Stonehill Taylor did just that, making the space relevant for today while also retaining elements of its storied past.  The designers also unearthed hotel artifacts—vintage Christmas ornaments, books written by Round Table authors, typewriters, an original grandfather clock—and placed them around the space. Read more.

7. A Nearby Quarry Informs the Interiors of This Hotel

At Tangshan Mountain, once a paradise of vegetation and wildlife close to the Chinese city of Nanjing, mining for ores deep into the hillside destroyed the local ecology and resulted in a man-made chasm devoid of life. Abandoned for a century, the quarry has been revitalized in an unexpected way: through the creation of the Banyan Tree Nanjing Garden Expo, a luxury hotel with interiors by Cheng Chung Design. Read more.

8. An Outdoorsy Hospitality Destination in Cape Cod

For the East Coast debut of the California-based hospitality brand known for upscale yet outdoorsy retreats near such national parks as Yosemite, rather than go the obvious route to conceive a sense of place for the New England property—shake shingles, blue-and-white everything—Workshop/APD founding principal Andrew Kotchen and team went in a different, though no less locally inspired, direction. Read more.

9. An Oaxaca Hotel with a Cocooning Atmosphere

Hidden down a quiet side street in La Punta Zicatela, Casa TO is a tranquil hotel inspired by the ancient temples of surrounding Oaxaca. Designed by French architect Ludwig Godefroy, the 10,000-square-foot property on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast provides a quiet retreat for the surfers and tourists who flock to the area for its stunning beaches and laid-back lifestyle. Read more.

10. A Boutique Hotel in Charleston

The design team at Method Co, along with architect Morris Adjmi, were tasked with turning Victorian-era structures into a 25-room, boutique hotel in Charleston. The resulting space, called The Pinch, nods to the building’s history while embracing the present. But it’s not just a hotel—all the rooms have full size kitchens, along with three residences for long-term stays, as well as on-site restaurants. Read more.