As we gear up for the start of a new decade, we’re casting our eyes across the world to find the most hotly anticipated hotels throwing open their doors in 2020. From a tropical modernist bolthole to Jean Nouvel’s latest collaboration, the North Pole to Japan, here are our favourites. Get your passports at the ready.
Arctic Bath, Swedish Lapland
Opening January 2020
Floating on the Lule River, this spa hotel will feature 12 rooms and a giant central ice bath. Inspired by the regional process of transporting felled trees downriver, the main building will resemble a ‘log jam.’ Natural materials dominate, and the restaurant boasts custom-made pine walls with Baltic grey limestone floors.
Harding Boutique Hotel Ahangama, Sri Lanka
Opening February
Just 30 minutes away from the UNESCO-listed Galle Fort, the latest example of Harding’s take on tropical modernism’ will be revealed in February complete with ribbed local hard-woods, polished concrete and granite stone. These features are distinct of Sri Lankan architecture, and the Ahangama hotel’s main staircase will burst with tropical foliage, leading guests up to an open-air roof terrace.
Ace Hotel, Kyoto, Japan
Opening spring 2020
The architect responsible for the New National Stadium, Kengo Kuma, has revived this former telephone office with a wooden grid system and dense garden, reminiscent of bygone Kyoto. Mixing the concrete with iron oxide has produced a warm hue while louvres and meshes will help filter light and wind through the red brick building.
Rooms meanwhile will have the usual Ace features, including record players and contemporary furniture – albeit with a Kyoto twist.
Can Ferrereta, Mallorca
Opening spring 2020
Found on Mallorca’s south-east coast, this 17th-century building will comprise 32 rooms, a spa with hammam and indoor pool. Can Ferrereta is inspired by the typical Spanish summer house: its light and airy design will champion original wooden beams, a cream palette and stone. Contemporary art will be a defining characteristic of the hotel with a focus on local Mallorcan artists.
North Pole Igloos, Swedish Lapland
Opening April 2020
When the aurora borealis is at its best, this cluster of temporary igloos will open for just one month in April as the world’s northernmost hotel. The 10 mobile domes with glass roofs will be moved to the safest place on the glacier before being packed up and returned to Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago at the end of the season.
Six Senses Shaharut, Israel
Opening May 2020
South of the Negev Desert, this 60-room hotel and spa is built using local rocks and pigments from the surrounding orange dunes. Regional cacti and indigenous desert blooms will dot the site, and an open-air amphitheatre serves as a cinema under the stars.
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi, Japan
Opening July 2020
Designed by Jean-Michel Gathy, this 39-storey skyscraper will peer over the Imperial Palace and house 193 bedrooms in total. Orange timber panels will frame the entrance, which leads to a lobby full of artwork by contemporary Japanese painters. Its design alludes to the traditional Japanese garden with a soft colour palette and shōji (sliding doors) in selected rooms.
Mt Isthmus Lodge, New Zealand
Opening December 2020
Set within 6,000 acres of Otago land, Mt Isthmus Lodge will accommodate just eight guests. The lodge’s jagged roof mirrors the mountainous landscape while, inside, guests will have access to a hot tub and cinema. An eco-focussed property, the lodge will use solar panels and avoid all single-use plastics.
The Rosewood, São Paulo
Opening TBD, 2020
Rosewood’s first hotel in South America sees a former maternity hospital transformed for a new role with the help of Jean Nouvel, Philippe Starck and Alexandre Allard (of House of Balmain). The steel ‘vertical park’ pays homage to Brazil’s Atlantic forest with its fig and magnolia trees, and will tower over São Paulo’s stout cityscape with 151 guest rooms, 114 owners’ suites, a music studio and original on-site chapel.
