NNeynerlux

Neynerlux index

Art Hotels

Hotels in this section treat design and art as the substance of the stay rather than decoration applied afterwards. Each entry notes what the property actually commissioned, collected or built.

01 Paris, France Art Hotels

Mama Shelter Paris East

Mama Shelter Paris East sits well away from the city's monument circuit, in the twentieth arrondissement, and it behaves accordingly. The original interiors came out of Philippe Starck's studio, and the house style that resulted — dark corridors, printed ceilings, deliberately mismatched furniture, a lot of neon lettering — became the template the brand carried to other cities. The public rooms do most of the talking: a long restaurant that fills up with people who are not guests, a bar that stays busy late, and a rooftop terrace that opens when the weather allows. Bedrooms are compact and finished in the same knowingly playful register, with a wall of graphic print behind the bed and an iMac standing in for the television. It is an art hotel in the broad sense — closer to a designed social venue with rooms attached than to a gallery.

  • Interiors from the Starck studio
  • Twentieth arrondissement
  • Rooftop terrace
  • Restaurant open to non-guests
02 Saint-Tropez, France Art Hotels

Hotel Sezz Saint-Tropez

Hotel Sezz stands about a kilometre back from the centre of Saint-Tropez, arranged as a set of low buildings around a garden and a black-bottomed pool. Christophe Pillet handled the architecture and interiors, and the result is restrained in a way that is unusual for the address: grey stone, dark timber, glass walls that slide fully open, and planting left to look like the surrounding maquis rather than a manicured resort lawn. Rooms open directly onto the garden or onto private terraces, and several have outdoor showers screened by vegetation. The property closes for the winter and reopens for the season, which is normal here. Art appears as a small number of large pieces in the common areas instead of a hung collection.

  • Architecture by Christophe Pillet
  • Garden pavilions
  • Seasonal opening
  • Black-bottomed pool
03 Austin, United States Art Hotels

Hotel Magdalena

Hotel Magdalena occupies a slope in South Austin and is built, unusually, largely of mass timber — the frame is visible in the guest rooms and corridors, and the smell of wood is part of the experience. Four low lodge buildings step down the hillside around a courtyard and a pool, with a bar and a listening-room space at the bottom. The design references mid-century lake houses without becoming a pastiche of one: terrazzo, cane, patterned tile, warm brown palettes, and a great deal of outdoor circulation, since the climate allows it. Music is taken seriously and programmed regularly. Bedrooms are modest in size, and the balance of the property tips toward the shared ground-floor spaces.

  • Mass-timber construction
  • Four lodge buildings
  • Courtyard pool
  • Regular live music