Introducing Six New Members of Design Hotels

Grupo Habita’s Círculo Mexicano is housed within a storied building in Mexico City but keeps its eyes on the future. With its reinterpretation of a traditional Mexican floorplan known as a “Vecindad,” which places a communal patio at the center of a building, gatherings can take place in the hotel’s central open space, rooftop pool, and bar-restaurant. A feeling of privacy is enhanced in rooms by way of nude color palettes, furnishings by La Metropolitana, Oaxacan textiles, and weaved palms. Further north to La Paz and Baja Club, another Grupo Habita property, modernizes a 19^th-century hacienda with a five-story extension. The furniture and materials were inspired by its locale: the reds and greens used throughout the hotel, for example, mirror the colors of traditional Mexican earthenware, old metals and woods, and woven textiles. 

Also housed in a restored 19^th-century mansion is The Bold Type Hotel in Patras, Greece, where each floor of the property organically highlights the colors of the city. Brick red on first floor is an homage to Patras’s ancient theater, while the use of cobalt on the second floor is a tribute to the color of the original house. On the third floor the application of green augments the presence of the multiple plants and trees that embrace the structure.

In London, Inhabit Hotel unfolds across six renovated Georgian-era townhouses and is adorned with artworks by local emerging and established artists in the form of textiles, paintings, and photography. This visual program complements Inhabit’s wellbeing-centered approach to hospitality, which emphasizes the importance of mental and physical health through guided meditation sessions, yoga classes, and plant-based menus—all of which are open to the surrounding community in addition to hotel guests. 

Local visual culture also comes to the fore at Los Angeles’ Hotel June, where original artworks and site-specific murals reflect the city’s creative spirit. When Kollin Altomre Architects reimagined the original building, designed by legendary architect Welton Becket in the late 1960s, they also included an upper-level deck and an inviting pool. The pairing of such features with pale blue accents, an abundance of plants, and casual teak furniture creates a space with an intoxicatingly cool, uniquely Los Angeles vibe. At Patina Maldives in the Fari Islands, cultural programming, including resident DJs and chefs, meets a conscious mindset. Over 300,000 plants that were cleared during construction were brought to the resort for replanting and solar panels provide much of Patina’s energy. The property is also home to a curated collection of photographs, sculptures, and paintings, as well as “Skyspace,” an installation by internationally renowned artist James Turrell. Here, one’s senses can be realigned to the surrounding pulse of nature.