Where Architects Sleep
Where Architects Sleep: The Most Stylish Hotels in the World
Sarah Miller
Phaidon, January 2020
Hardcover | 5-1/2 x 8 inches | 528 pages | 65 illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-0714879260 | $29.95
No one appreciates a building quite like an architect - and now, for the first time, more than 250 of the world's leading architects share insider tips on where to stay, revealing everything from renowned destinations to undiscovered gems. With 1,200 listings in more than 100 countries, this unique guide has readers covered, whether planning a business trip or a vacation, a city break or a remote getaway, a wedding or a corporate event. It's the ideal resource, gift, and gateway to design-conscious journeys worldwide.
Sarah Miller was founding editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Traveller UK, which she ran for 15 years before launching Condé Nast Traveller in India and China. She was later appointed European Editor of Travel + Leisure and is currently CEO of Sarah Miller and Partners, and luxury brand ambassador of The Wall Street Journal.
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Even before cracking open Where Architects Sleep, I knew I'd stayed in few to none of the hotels and other lodgings selected by more than 250 "revered architects." I figured the places were either too expensive for my wallet or too remote from the places I've traveled. So my first approach to browsing through this gazetteer covering places of accommodation in more than 100 countries was to think of places I've been but not necessarily stayed. On top was Therme Vals, the spa designed by Peter Zumthor as part of the 7132 Hotel in Vals, Switzerland. It's in the book, for sure, though taking up nearly one whole page, in a book where most places take up a quarter-page. This is because so many architects made the recommendation, and each one of their names is listed after the hotel's details.
The 7132 Hotel is an anomaly, since most hotels and other places of lodging are recommended by just one architect, maybe two. Case in point are three of the four hotels in Brooklyn that are on page 429 (each hotel is in my NYC Walks book, so it was natural for me to search them out). The William Vale, The Williamsburg Hotel, and 1 Hotel Brooklyn are recommended by one architect each, while the more established Wythe Hotel gets four recommendations, one of them by Hani Rashid, who calls it "discreet and hip" and home to "the best burgers in Williamsburg." Unfortunately, The Williamsburg Hotel, just one block from the Wythe Hotel, is recommended by Alex Michaelis — the architect of the building! That doesn't seem right to me. Nor, I'm guessing, Sarah Miller, whose capable organization of the guide points out when an architect recommends their own building (e.g., Jean-Paul Viguier doing so for his Sofitel Chicago, one of the few hotels in the book I have stayed in); this one apparently got away from her.
Where Architects Sleep is part of Phaidon's "Where to" series of books that also includes Where Chefs Eat and Where to Drink Beer, among others. The small-format hardcovers with lightweight paper are easy enough to carry around, though the lack of illustrations (outside of maps) in the series is a bit of a detriment here. Photos of beer or restaurants aren't a must in a guidebook, but if the reason to go to a hotel is because an architects says they "wish I'd designed" it (one of many reasons cited in the listings), a photo would be helpful. Without them, the cover price of the thick book is kept low, but it turns the book into a starting point for prolonged research elsewhere. Nevertheless, if you are getting ready to travel — and after months of coronavirus quarantine, people are starting to make travel plans once again — and want your hotel to be as much a part of the experience as its urban or natural surroundings, you can't go wrong with Where Architects Sleep. I have the feeling, though, that "you" are more likely a non-architect who can afford to follow the recommendations of architects rather than an architect, like myself, on a budget.
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