A temple-like hotel in Mexico and a converted prison in Berlin feature in this roundup of the best hotel designs of 2022, as we continue Dezeen’s review of the year.
Over 50 hotel and short-stay projects featured on Dezeen in 2022. Our list includes both destination hotels, such as the idyllic Patina Maldives, and stylish urban boltholes like Ace Hotel Toronto.
Key hospitality trends include growing demand for staycations, as offered by venues like Sweden’s Treehotel, and the rise of the work retreat, thanks to venues like Artchimboldi Menorca.
Read on for our top 10 hotels of 2022:
Casa TO, Mexico, by Ludwig Godefroy
Natural cooling was the priority for architect Ludwig Godefroy when designing this boutique hotel near Puerto Escondido, on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The cast-concrete structure integrates various openings – including large circular cutaways – to allow the breeze to flow through. There’s also a pool spanning the building and a series of outdoor baths for first-floor rooms.
Godefroy described the hotel as “like the reinterpretation of an Oaxacan temple, generating a radical sensory experience upon entering”.
Find out more about Casa TO ›
Hotel Terrestre, Mexico, by Taller de Arquitectura X
Also near Puerto Escondido, Mexican architect Alberto Kalach and his studio Taller de Arquitectura X designed a monumental hotel complex that runs entirely on solar power.
Hotel Terrestre consists of a series of buildings constructed from concrete and hand-made mud bricks, including 14 villas, an open-air restaurant, a spa and swimming pools.
The ambition of the design was to embed structures in the landscape as if they have been there for years.
Find out more about Hotel Terrestre ›
Downtown LA Proper Hotel, USA, by Kelly Wearstler
Named hotel and short-stay interior of the year at Dezeen Awards 2022, this 148-room hotel in downtown Los Angeles has an eclectic interior created by designer Kelly Wearstler to reflect the city’s thriving creative scene.
A former private club built in the 1920s, the property has been transformed with influences from Mexico, Morocco, Spain and Portugal, as well as references to local culture and history.
Arriving guests are greeted by a hand-painted multicoloured mural designed by artist Abel Macias and a graphite reception desk designed by ceramicist Morgan Peck. Other highlights include a suite with its own pool.
Find out more about Downtown LA Proper Hotel ›
Wilmina, Germany, by Grüntuch Ernst Architects
One of the most surprising new hotels of 2022 occupies an abandoned women’s prison and courthouse in Berlin.
Locally based Grüntuch Ernst Architects transformed former cells within the 19th-century Charlottenburg facility into tranquil guest rooms finished in light colours, soft textures and warm, tactile materials.
The U-shaped cell block now also contains a library, bar, spa and gym, while an extension housing Wilmina’s restaurant links the building with the former courthouse, which houses the hotel reception and a gallery called Amtsalon.
Find out more about Wilmena ›
Biosphere, Sweden, by BIG
The ever-popular Treehotel added another architect-designed treehouse in 2022, this time by Danish firm BIG.
Joining designs by the likes of Snøhetta and Tham & Videgård, BIG’s Biosphere is the eighth treetop suite to be installed on the remote woodland site in Swedish Lapland.
The building exterior is formed of 350 birdhouses of different sizes, fixed to a metal grid. Behind this is a 34-square-metre glass cube containing a bed, a toilet and a lounge space designed with birdwatching in mind.
Find out more about Biosphere ›
Patina Maldives, Maldives, by Studio MK27
This project by Brazilian office Studio MK27 turned an island in the artificial Fari Islands archipelago in the Maldives into a luxury hotel resort, featuring secluded beach suites and water villas that project out to sea.
The buildings – which include the Dezeen Awards-shortlisted spa – feature a materials palette of earthy colours, matt finishes and natural textures that chime with the natural landscape.
Never rising above the tree canopy, they are dotted around the island in an arrangement designed to create areas of vibrant social activity and spaces of complete seclusion.
Find out more about Patina Maldives ›
Ace Hotel Toronto, Canada, by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects
The Ace Hotel brand continued its tradition of collaborating with prolific architects for its first venue in Canada, which is designed by the RAIC Gold Medal-winning Shim-Sutcliffe Architects.
The 123-room Ace Hotel Toronto features a facade of red brick laid in various patterns and an elevated lobby suspended from huge concrete arches.
Original artworks by primarily Canadian artists feature throughout the hotel rooms and common areas, including a three-storey installation by Shim-Sutcliffe co-founder Howard Sutcliffe.
Find out more about Ace Hotel Toronto ›
Floating Cloud Township Villa, China, by More Design Office
Chinese studio More Design Office (MDO) renovated six traditional rammed-earth houses to create these contemporary guesthouses in the village of Qinglongwu, in Zhejiang Province.
The properties were upgraded with new windows, partition screens and furniture, which offer a contemporary contrast to the rough-textured earth walls, and the original doors and window shutters.
The vacation homes form part of newly established tourist destination, the Fangyukongxiangsu Cultural and Creative Complex. They are joined by two new concrete buildings that contain a bar and lounge.
Find out more about Floating Cloud Township Villa ›
Hotel Flavia, Mexico, by RootStudio
Mexican architecture firm RootStudio delivered this 27-room hotel in Oaxaca without drawing up any plans.
Located on a steep site, the building was commissioned in stages, as a “habitable sculpture”, so most of the design details were worked out on site.
The result is a building organised around a courtyard filled with endemic vegetation. Visitors enter from the top level and make their way down toward the hotel’s rooms and amenities.
Find out more about Hotel Flavia ›
Artchimboldi Menorca, Spain, by Emma Martí
This former girls’ school in Menorca is now home to a different type of workspace – hospitality company Artchimboldi and architect Emma Martí have turned it into a work retreat.
The building features design-focused spaces where businesses can host meetings or team-building sessions, plus wooden “pods” that serve as bedrooms.
Find out more about Artchimboldi Menorca ›