Hotel Lobby Designs That Are Cool, Captivating, and Modern
The design of a hotel lobby can make or break a first impression. Whether it’s a grand staircase or a bold sculpture, the decor undoubtedly sets the tone for the rest of the guest experience. These 30 hotel lobby designs captivate without going overboard.
[Editor’s note: A previous version of this story was published February 26, 2019. It has been updated to reflect the latest awe-inspiring hotel lobby designs]
Hotel Lobby Designs Hold the Power to Wow, Like These Eye-Catching Spaces
1. Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas by EDG and Meyer Davis
With architecture by Robert C. Glazier and interiors by EDG and Meyer Davis, the 260,000-square-foot paradise resembles a low-slung hacienda-style village rather than a towering hotel block, with a series of casitas terraced down its sloping beachfront site. Rather than a brash fiesta of colors and patterns that might pervade less discerning resort designs, this one is rooted in true local flair with artworks, objects, and artisan craftsmanship sourced from across the country.
2. Wild Palms Hotel by BHDM Design
“Effervescent, bubbly, bright, and celebratory,” is how one would describe the Wild Palms Hotel in tech-centric Silicon Valley. Keeping with that vibe, BHDM populates interiors a plethora of circles, a riot of sunny yellows, clear-sky blues, rosy pinks. A custom mobile of acrylic discs takes center stage in the loftlike hotel lobby design, while a sculptural painted-wood artwork by Tilde Grynnerup backdrops the reception desk, an MDF construction with ombré vinyl insets.
3. Moxy Sydney Airport by Maed. Collective
Wrapping around the steel-frame glass-box entry, the 13-story Moxy Sydney Airport by Maed. Collective embraces an industrial vibe befitting the air-side location, adding a soupçon of art deco sparked by the heritage storefronts of the surrounding neighborhood. With seating decked out in the bold blue and orange colors of cargo containers, the atmosphere is the charged mix between vintage objects, regional art, and custom pieces, that creates a reassuring homeyness.
4. The Wayback by Dryden Studio
Transforming a former Days Inn into a vibrant, retro-modern oasis, Dryden Studio and hotel developer Aatmos looked back to the mid-century heyday of motor lodges, particularly those in Palm Springs, California. To make a strong visual statement in the town—home to Dollywood and other flashy country music venues—the collaborators whitewashed the exterior of the 60,000-square-foot property so it would stand out and be quiet at the same time.
5. Palazzo Petrvs by Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva
Local hotelier Raffaele Tysserand commissioned the Naples-based Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva to renovate and transform a 15th-century palace in the small Umbrian town into a history-inspired boutique hotel. Adjacent to the bluff-top city’s 14th-century Duomo di Orvieto, its architecture supports an intricate facade of narrow, with horizontal bands in alternating white travertine and black basalt. These defining stripes along with the beautiful furnishings in this hotel lobby design served as the inspirational basis for dell’Uva’s playful yet sensitive concept for the nine-key Palazzo Petrvs.
6. Novotel Miami Brickell Hotel by BHDM Design
Conceiving of a “sun, sand, surf” theme, Dan Mazzarini, principal and creative director of BHDM Design, along with his team, marshalled a peachy palette along with furnishings in rounded shapes that have a “work/live/play vibe.”
7. Joseph Hotel by INC Architecture & Design
The art-in-hotels phenomenon has been percolating for a while now. Like all trends, however, it could use an update. At the Joseph, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Nashville, the concept underwent a savvy refinement by INC Architecture & Design. This hotel lobby design brings a new wave of inspiration for the modernista.
8. Ace Hotel Kyoto by Kengo Kuma & Associates and Commune Design
Formerly home to the Kyoto Central Telephone Company, the landmarked structure—the first registered Cultural Property in the city—was poised for redevelopment, awaiting occupants who would appreciate its rare East-meets-West aesthetic. Thanks to a collaboration between Kengo Kuma & Associates and Commune Design, the resulting 213-room hotel is set around a leafy courtyard and pays homage to its roots.
Related Post: This Residential Lobby in San Jose, California Offers a Study of Contrasts
9. Shinola Hotel by Gachot Studios
A former department store houses the lobby of this newly opened Detroit hotel, the staircase’s iron balustrade dating to 1925 but the wood-burning fireplace and Italian marble mantel newly added. Artworks are mostly by Michigan-based artists, curated by Library Street Collective, a local gallery. This memorable hotel lobby design of Shinola Hotel is a seamless blend of modern elegance and vintage charm, creating a captivating and inviting atmosphere for guests. Natural light floods the lobby space through large windows, highlighting the carefully selected furniture and decor elements, enhancing the overall ambiance of the hotel.
Related Post: Huntsman Architectural Group’s Lobby Renovation of Chicago’s The 300 Says “Welcome”
10. Hotel Alessandra by Rottet Studio
Typical of Rottet, this project evolved as a hybrid: traditional glamour paired with contemporary implementation. The reception area is capped by a coffered ceiling, its knife-edged planes fitted with LED strips. A Reinhard Görner photograph backs the custom desk of brass, myrtle burl, and marble.
11. Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait by Yabu Pushelberg
This contemporary hotel lobby design includes textured limestone walls that stretch to a ceiling nearly 30 feet high. A dramatic spiral staircase coils up a burnt-orange enclosure at one end. The reception desk, a hunk of carved onyx that weighs more than two tons, anchors the other.
Related Post: SKB Architects Creates Lively Lobby for Key Center Office Tower
12. The Jaffa by John Pawson
Pawson’s forte is creating a calm warmth from what is pristine and precise, usually without much applied color or pattern. But also visible is a subtle departure for him: unexpected decoration in the form of furnishings and finishes. Shiro Kuramata seating enlivens the main lobby, in contrast to the stone wall.
13. Emiliano Rio by Studio Arthur Casas and Oppenheim Architecture + Design
The scheme of this Rio de Janeiro hotel lobby design blends Brazilian modernism with a contemporary sensibility of understated elegance. The interior’s swoopy abstraction and organic shapes are inherited from the famous Copacabana sidewalks by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. A largely pale color scheme is punctuated by wood paneling and accents in brown and green.
14. Me Sitges Terramar Hotel by Lagranja Design
The hotel’s overall mood is breezy and beachy, with touches of cheek. On the left, a school of 163 fish handmade in white gypsum swims across a wall. Polyester forms the firm’s production pendant fixture above.
15. Healing Stay Kosmos by The System Lab
This resort’s interiors are as striking, minimal, and esoteric as its exterior. The walls and ceilings are all-white and art-free. A stair of oak treads rises up from its lobby floored in slate.
16. Hôtel Monville by ACDF Architecture
Blackened-steel rods screen the lobby lounge from the elevators. For a Montreal-themed photomontage, Valérie Jodoin Keaton snapped 200 shots, combined them with 86 archival images, and printed the result on vinyl.
17. Le Relais de Chambord by Wilmotte & Associés
This hotel has combined 21st-century comforts with nods to the site’s regal past (the castle was built as a hunting lodge for King Francis I). In reception, nearly floor-to-ceiling built-ins lined with books give the feel of a large country home.
18. The Adolphus Hotel by Swoon, the Studio
Swoon, the Studio was charmed by the Beaux Arts grandeur and Germanic exterior from the 1912 hotel, but some refreshment was in order. The firm tackled each communal space with an eye to modernize all the decadence without diminishing the original designer’s achievements.
19. Headlands Coastal Lodge & Spa by EDG Interior Architecture + Design and Scott Edwards Architecture
The design ensured that it’s the warm and welcoming fireplace that greets entering guests. Off to the side stands a booth occupied by adventure coaches, beckoning guests to experience the outdoors. Light shines through laser-cut openings in the steel of the reception desk. On it sits a driftwood sculpture silhouetted against a wool blanket hung as a tapestry.
20. Serafina Beach Hotel by ICRAVE
At this beachside Puerto Rico hotel, furnishings blend mid-century and post-modern styles, with work from local artists providing a true sense of place. Pendants from El Torrent brighten the reception area, and a mural by Sofia Maldonado draws the eye up the open-tread terrazzo staircase.
21. Hotel Mono by Spacedge Designs
Linearity is a theme carried throughout the hotel, save for the circle cut-out of a lobby wall to accommodate a built-in vintage Eero Aarnio chair. Glass panels replaced the stair’s teak balustrades.
22. The Kitz by Krampulz Meyer Architekten
The emerald brick and stucco exterior of the Kitz is meant to evoke the nearby forests. In the lobby, foliage-patterned fabric wall covering continues the natural theme.
23. Room Mate Emir Hotel by Lázaro Rosa-Violán Studio
The design team aimed to create a fresh, luxurious environment while still showcasing the relics of the original. The front desk makes a statement in aged brass, and a pink glass chandelier shines overhead.
24. Gowanus Inn and Yard by Savvy Studio
The firm took inspiration from a painting—a 1950s portrait of a middle-class family by Robert Bechtle—for the hotel’s concept, translating his sunny palette into optimistic colors dabbed onto neutral concrete walls and ceilings. In the lobby, custom built-in sofas and seating groups offer guests ample space to meet and greet.
25. Intercontinental Los Angeles Downtown by AC Martin Partners
In the ground-level entry of this contemporary hotel lobby design, three walls are covered by a Doh Ho Suh installation comprising 86,000 multicolored resin pieces. For those who wish to sit and take it all in, massive sculptural benches by Carlo Colombo are provided.
26. Detroit Foundation Hotel by Simeone Deary Design Group
The firm transformed this 95,000-square-foot structure into a reflection of the Detroit’s past while embracing its present. Being from the area, designer Gina Deary felt an obligation to honor the city.
27. Publica Isrotel by Dana Oberson Architects
Oberson found it important to incorporate an eclectic assortment of furnishings. For the main lobby, she sourced from flea markets across Israel, the Netherlands, and Turkey.
28. Cavalry Court by Rottet Studio
Inspired by agricultural surroundings, this College Station hotel’s aesthetic skews rustic with honest, straightforward materials and forms. Sun descends through a light well’s reclaimed pine slats, into reception.
29. Explora Valle Sagrado by José Cruz Ovalle Estudio de Arquitectura
At this Cuzco, Peru hotel, the restrained palette defers to the experience of nature. The double-height ceiling of the lodge is supported by columns built with the trunks of trees brought from the general contractor’s own land in Peru’s Amazon rainforest. One of the more memorable modern hotel lobby designs, this one is a truly sustainable in its own right!
30. 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge Park by Inc Architecture & Design, Marvel Architects, and Michael van Valkenburgh Associates
Think globally. Design locally. This twist on the activist rallying cry is a fitting mantra for the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge Park, a property in the eco-forward hospitality brand launched by Interior Design Hall of Fame member Barry Sternlicht, CEO of Starwood Capital Group. Hall of Fame inductees INC Architecture & Design created the artfully sustainable look in one of the most eco-friendly hotel lobby designs, unveiled on Earth Day inside a 10-story building by Jonathan Marvel, in a section of a wild, willowy riverside park by Michael Van Valkenburgh, who also designed the hotel’s rooftop pool area.
See the latest in hospitality from our October 2024 issue. For more on modern hotel lobby designs and related content, be sure to visit Interior Design.
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