Today we’re looking back at the Top 5 Resorts & Hotels that opened in 2020 including a lodge set in a desert landscape, a massive luxury hotel in downtown Dubai by Zaha Hadid Architects, and a series of retrofitted bridge houses in Amsterdam. Enjoy!
Sossusvlei Desert Lodge by Fox Browne Creative
Suspended on the horizon where the earth curves away from view and the sky reaches down to touch the sand, lies andBeyond’s Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. Designed by South African–based Fox Browne Creative, in partnership with Architect Jack Alexander, a supreme emphasis has been placed on the surreal desert landscape in which the lodge is set.
ME Dubai Hotel at the Opus by Zaha Hadid Architects
Home to the new ME Dubai hotel, the Opus is located in the Burj Khalifa district adjacent to Downtown Dubai and Business Bay on the Dubai Water Canal. Exploring the balance between solid and void, opaque and transparent, interior and exterior, the design was presented by Zaha Hadid in 2007 and is the only hotel in which she created both its architecture and interiors.
Potato Head Studios by OMA
While the essence of Bali lies in interaction between different cultures, the ubiquitous resort typology currently in Bali and other tropical destinations paradoxically emphasises hotel guests’ exclusive enjoyment, detached from the life of the local community. Located on one of the last remaining unoccupied beach front sites in Seminyak, the Potato Head Studios challenges the typical resort typology: the notion of “exclusivity” is abandoned; the resort is reconsidered as a part of the local community.
Bridge Houses by SWEETS Hotel
SWEETS hotel is a new hotel that is dotted across Amsterdam in 28 different bridge houses, built along and on Amsterdam’s canals between 1673 and 2009, each one designed in the architectural style of its building period. Due to the centralization of bridge control, the bridge houses lost their original purpose of working space for Amsterdam’s bridge keepers. SWEETS hotel reuses this industrial heritage by transforming the bridge houses into stand-alone hotel suites with unique interiors, designed with the architectural history of the tiny building in mind.
Apfelhotel Torgglerhof by noa*
As the age-old adage goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In South Tyrol, Saltaus, Apfelhotel’s young new generation of owners are breaking new ground while staying true to their traditional roots. noa*’s novel design and architecture evokes the vintage charm of this historical hotel while creating an oasis for the senses and shared moments.
