Hotels,
opened as buildings
We look at hotels the way you would look at a plan: what the building is, how it is divided inside, and what stands next to it. Four sections, each hotel written to fit in a single place on the page.
Art Hotels · 6 hotels
Art Hotels
Hotel Chelsea · Villa Copenhagen · Hotel Marcel · Hotel de Rome · Widder Hotel · Antumalal
- Hotel Chelsea — Cast-iron balconies and one very deep stair
- Villa Copenhagen — A 1912 post office wrapped around its courtyard
- Hotel Marcel — Two concrete blocks joined in mid-air
- Hotel de Rome — The bank vault below is now the pool
- Widder Hotel — Nine medieval houses sewn into one address
- Antumalal — One low row of rooms facing the lake
Capsule Hotels · 4 hotels
Capsule Hotels
Do-C Ebisu · Cabinn City · Nap York · Minute Suites
- Do-C Ebisu — Capsules in two tiers, sauna at the centre
- Cabinn City — Ship cabins repeated the length of the floor
- Nap York — Sleeping pods stacked beside Penn Station
- Minute Suites — Private sleep cabins inside the terminal itself
Casino Hotels · 4 hotels
Casino Hotels
Montreal Casino & Hotel · Fallsview Casino Resort · River Rock Casino Resort · Casino Rama Resort
- Montreal Casino & Hotel — World's fair pavilions on a river island
- Fallsview Casino Resort — Built on the cliff edge above the falls
- River Rock Casino Resort — A waterside resort with its own marina
- Casino Rama Resort — On First Nation land beside Lake Couchiching
Ice Hotels · 4 hotels
Ice Hotels
Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel · SnowCastle of Kemi · Arctic SnowHotel · SnowVillage
- Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel — Rebuilt from snow every winter beside the river
- SnowCastle of Kemi — A snow fortress with hotel, restaurant, chapel
- Arctic SnowHotel — Snow rooms on one side, glass igloos on the other
- SnowVillage — A carved snow village on a new theme yearly
A photograph tells you what a hotel feels like from one angle on one day. A plan tells you why the corridor bends, why one room is twice the depth of the next, and why the stair sits where it does. Most of these buildings were made for something other than sleeping, and the older purpose is still doing the work. That is the part we try to write down.