Design-driven hotels: redefining luxury through interior design

Travel is no longer just about discovering destinations, but also about inhabiting spaces with their own character.

This curated selection of boutique hotels from the Domus Selecta Collection brings together projects where signature design becomes the central axis of the experience. Created by leading names in design, these hotels express a global creative vision that encompasses architecture, interior design, and every detail of the space. The result is a series of unique places where aesthetics, comfort, and storytelling come together seamlessly.

Hotel Saint Marc

Art Deco reinterpreted by Dimore Studio

Located in a restored 18th-century building in the heart of Paris, Hôtel Saint-Marc is one of the most distinctive creations by Dimore Studio, the design practice founded by Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci.

Its concept reinterprets the language of Art Deco from a contemporary perspective, where color, texture, and spatial composition take center stage. 

The interior is conceived as an immersive experience from the very first moment. The lobby combines black and white marble with dusty pink walls and velvet accents, creating an intimate, elegant, and enveloping atmosphere. This balance between contrast and softness defines the hotel’s character.

In the rooms and common areas, materials and geometric lines reinforce a cohesive aesthetic, where historical references coexist with a contemporary and expressive design language. The result is a carefully orchestrated environment that maintains a strong visual identity without losing warmth.

More than a standalone project, Saint Marc is the result of an ongoing collaboration with Dimore Studio, which contributes to the hotel’s evolution through the curation of pieces and the definition of atmospheres. An identity in constant refinement that strengthens its unique character within the collection.

Maison Particulières

The intimate Paris of Jacques Garcia

In Paris, the Maison Particulières universe brings together three distinctive hotels designed by Jacques Garcia, one of the leading figures in contemporary interior design.

His signature is defined by a deeply sophisticated, warm, and theatrical aesthetic, far removed from ostentation and focused on recreating the atmosphere of private Parisian homes.

Across the three projects, Jacques Garcia develops a consistent design language based on historical evocation, craftsmanship, and the creation of theatrical atmospheres, shaping a highly personal vision of Paris as a city of interiors.

Maison Proust reinterprets the elegance of Belle Époque salons, creating a cultured and immersive setting where art, antiques, and textiles coexist as they would in a private residence. The result is a literary and deeply evocative atmosphere inspired by the sensibility of the period.

Maison Souquet, on the other hand, explores the more theatrical and secret side of Montmartre. Set in a former 19th-century establishment, the hotel revives the imagery of Belle Époque maisons closes through a design rich in textures, historical references, and carefully subdued lighting that enhances its intimate and mysterious character.

More restrained and serene, Maison Athénée offers a more understated interpretation of signature luxury. Its spaces evoke the idea of an urban retreat, where comfort, calm, and discreet elegance define a more introspective experience within the collection. 

Hotel Cappuccino 

An eclectic home by Jacques Grange

In the heart of Palma de Mallorca, Hotel Cappuccino stands as an urban oasis where signature design and hospitality coexist naturally.

Conceived by Parisian designer Jacques Grange, one of the world’s most renowned interior designers, the project reflects his distinctive eclectic style, where sophistication blends with a warm, artistic, and deeply personal aesthetic.

Each room and suite has been designed as a space with its own identity, where detail plays an essential role in shaping the experience. The result is a collection of rooms that do not follow a single narrative, but multiple stories, all united by a shared aesthetic.

The creative process, developed over years of collaboration between the hotel team and the designer, shaped a project carefully built piece by piece. Materials, atmospheres, and sensations were defined through an ongoing dialogue, resulting in a hotel where design is not just a visual layer, but a structural part of the concept.

The result is a welcoming and romantic space with a strong artistic character. A place where design is not only seen, but truly lived.

Palazzina Grassi

The contemporary vision of Philippe Starck

In Venice, on the banks of the Grand Canal and in a quieter area of the San Marco district, Palazzina Grassi redefines the concept of a luxury boutique hotel through the vision of Philippe Starck, one of the most influential and internationally renowned designers.

His approach, always innovative and boundary-pushing, finds here one of its most refined expressions.

The project breaks with the traditional codes of high-end hospitality to offer a more intimate and sensory experience. With only 25 rooms, the hotel feels like a private residence.

The interior design blends references to Venetian history and culture with a contemporary and subtly bold interpretation. Materials, reflections, and textures create an almost theatrical atmosphere, where light and detail play a key role in shaping the perception of space.

More than a hotel, Palazzina Grassi offers a different way of experiencing Venice: close, intimate, and deeply aesthetic. A place where signature design transforms the stay into a unique experience, connected both to the past and to the city’s present-day rhythm.

Hotel Sahrai

Architecture and light according to Christophe Pillet

With privileged views over the medina of Fez, Hotel Sahrai redefines the hospitality experience in the city from a contemporary perspective.

Designed by architect and designer Christophe Pillet, the project establishes a dialogue between tradition and modernity, moving away both from the seclusion of traditional riads and from the impersonal scale of large resorts.

The hotel’s architecture is defined by a precise mastery of space and light, a hallmark of Pillet’s work. Its human-scale volumes balance monumentality and intimacy, creating an experience that moves between openness and seclusion. The design also draws on references to the site’s past, built on the former grounds of Marshal Lyautey’s summer palace, incorporating arches that evoke its original architectural memory.

The design, conceived in an integrated way, reinterprets traditional Moroccan codes from a contemporary perspective. Elements such as zellige, carved plaster, local stone, and Fassi ceramics are subtly woven into the composition, moving beyond decoration to form part of a coherent aesthetic narrative. This is complemented by bespoke furniture pieces created specifically for the hotel, such as the Sahrai collection designed by Pillet, which reinforces its unique identity. 

Through these hotels, signature design emerges as an essential element in the contemporary understanding of hospitality. Beyond aesthetics, each project expresses a personal vision of space. A different way of traveling, where the place ceases to be a mere setting and becomes the protagonist.

Explore unique hotels where design, architecture, and the identity of each space redefine the art of travel.

Explore the rest of the Domus Selecta Collection