Hotels and Restaurants: The Latest Architecture and News

Berlin's Barkow Leibinger has won an invited competition to design a new hotel tower and conference centre as part of Berlin's largest hotel complex, the Estrel. Establishing a new gateway to the center of Berlin from Schönefeld International Airport, the tower will stand at 175 meters (578 feet) making it the tallest high-rise in Berlin to date. Located on the Sonnenalle at the intersection of the Ship Canal, S-Bahn and Autobahn, the site acts as a threshold between the heterogeneous industrial and residential periphery of the city and the historical neighborhoods of Neukölln.

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GRAFT Architects and penda are preparing to break ground on Myrtle Garden Hotel in the outskirts of Xiangyang, China. Nestled on a hillside site within the largest Myrtle Flower Garden in Asia, the wooden annular structure is designed to provide a “soothing harmony between the architecture and its natural environment.”

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GRAFT Architects have won an invited competition to restore and extend one of Germany's oldest youth hostels in central Munich, Germany. Their proposal, which was judged alongside designs by haascookzemmrich (Stuttgart), Snøhetta (Oslo), and YES Architecture (Munich), centers around the idea of "experiencing community." Their proposal enables exchange and communication whilst also alluding to the "established traditions of simple traveling, youthful curiosity and the thirst for encounter." Connecting the historic quality of the building with the challenges of modern habits and traveling practices, their design "builds a bridge between origins and departure."

The IceHotel, a hotel in Jukkasjärvi in Northern Sweden that melts back into the Torne River and is rebuilt each year, is currently in the design phase for next winter. But there's a new twist: next year guests are able to collaborate with artists to design a suite that is bespoke to their individual tastes. The price tag is admittedly rather steep, and those going for this option can expect "one of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world", according to the press release.

Is it worth it? Why don't you decide for yourself - images from this winter's hotel are after the break!

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