Book Review: Hotel as Home
Hotel as Home: The Art of Living on the Road by Gary Chang, published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2006. (Amazon)
Architect Gary Chang (of EDGE Design Institute) is known mainly for his Suitcase House, a building that is actually a hotel near the Great Wall of China. It features a wonderfully creative interior comprised of folding panels and hidden spaces. Given the flexibility that comes from the multitude of possible configurations of the panels, it's apparent that Chang wants to make travel special. So it's no surprise that he authored a book that presents his favorite hotels from around the world.
Like many other architects today, Chang spends a great deal of time away from home - 1/3 according to the introduction. With all that time on the road he has stayed at a wide range of hotels, from a Communist-era renovation to the latest trendy number in New York. Some of my favorites (unfortunately not from personal experience) include Jean Nouvel's Hotel and the Hotel Zürichberg in Switzerland, the Metropolitan in Bangkok, and the Vigilius Mountain Resort in Northern Italy. It's the wide range of styles and types of hotels that makes Chang's account documented here so refreshing. Unlike other design-oriented books on hotels that focus solely on what's new and fashionable, Chang's taste is all over the place. His sketch plans and photographs also give the reader a more personal take on the surroundings than most professionally photographed books, though the cropping and detail-oriented focus of the photos leave one yearning for a bit more.
Architect Gary Chang (of EDGE Design Institute) is known mainly for his Suitcase House, a building that is actually a hotel near the Great Wall of China. It features a wonderfully creative interior comprised of folding panels and hidden spaces. Given the flexibility that comes from the multitude of possible configurations of the panels, it's apparent that Chang wants to make travel special. So it's no surprise that he authored a book that presents his favorite hotels from around the world.
Like many other architects today, Chang spends a great deal of time away from home - 1/3 according to the introduction. With all that time on the road he has stayed at a wide range of hotels, from a Communist-era renovation to the latest trendy number in New York. Some of my favorites (unfortunately not from personal experience) include Jean Nouvel's Hotel and the Hotel Zürichberg in Switzerland, the Metropolitan in Bangkok, and the Vigilius Mountain Resort in Northern Italy. It's the wide range of styles and types of hotels that makes Chang's account documented here so refreshing. Unlike other design-oriented books on hotels that focus solely on what's new and fashionable, Chang's taste is all over the place. His sketch plans and photographs also give the reader a more personal take on the surroundings than most professionally photographed books, though the cropping and detail-oriented focus of the photos leave one yearning for a bit more.
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