Hotel

Hired to breathe new life into a drab 1970s hotel, Sou Fujimoto Architects decided on an out-of-the-box approach that involved renovating the aging space, while also adding an eye-catching new building that takes the form of a grass-covered hill.

Qatar isn't lacking in notable architecture but a new floating hotel would be a head-turning addition to the country. Named the Eco-Floating Hotel, it would rotate in place like a revolving restaurant and boast wind, solar, and tidal sustainability.

Foster + Partners has created another hotel for the ambitious Red Sea Project in Saudi Arabia. Southern Dunes will get electricity from a huge 1.2-gigawatt battery system and is designed to withstand the harsh conditions in the Arabian dunes.

Studio Gang is no stranger to unusual designs and its latest project is another head turner. Named Populous, the mixed-use hotel will boast sustainability features such as solar power and a green roof, and is expected to be completed by 2023.

Thin is in when it comes to skyscraper design, with skinny luxury towers increasingly seen as viable in crowded cities. However, the Pencil Tower Hotel makes other thin towers look chunky as it will measure just 6.4 meters in width.

Each December, the Icehotel is host to frozen bedrooms filled with amazing ice sculptures for a few months, before it all melts away into a puddle. This year's iteration contains a selection of icy artworks ranging from the abstract to the sublime.

Influential French architect Jean Nouvel has produced several impressive buildings in the Middle East, but his latest project may be his most ambitious. Sharaan consists of a resort and hotel built into sandstone mountains in the Arabian desert.

ZJA drew on a lost coastal dune landscape for inspiration with its mixed-use hotel and casino in Middelkerke, Belgium. The project will overlook the North Sea and is envisioned as an artificial sand dune, with a "boulder-like" hotel on top.

It's a tough time to launch a new hotel and you could be forgiven for wondering if the Atari Hotels line would be quietly dropped. Instead it continues to build momentum, with Gensler now involved and some renders of a hotel in Las Vegas revealed.

Recycled shipping containers have been used to create a new hotel and office building in California. The container hotel rooms feature an unusual design centered around a raised roof area that's meant to improve space, ventilation, and light inside.

Dubai is chock-full of impressive buildings, including the world's tallest, but even in that company the Opus stands out. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, this luxury hotel takes the form of a glass cube with an eight-story void at its center.

Architectural studio Alexis Dornier has recently completed a tropical treehouse escape dubbed Lift that's located in Penestanan, on the outskirts of Ubud, Bali. Guests can sleep amid the treetops in a luxurious eco-structure.