Hotel Design Award | 196+ forum Milan | 196+ forum

About the Hotel Design Award

The prestigious industry award “Hotel Design Award” targets hotels that were completed and opened in Europe within the last one and a half years before the 196+ forum Milan. The prize goes to a hotel which stands out from among its competitors in terms of architecture, design and innovation, no matter whether it is a luxury or a budget hotel, a chain hotel or privately managed, short or long stay, city hotel or holiday resort. 196+ forum Milan regards a homogeneous combination of all the individual aspects to form a winning hotel concept.

Hotel Design Award 2024

The “Hotel Design Award 2024” is for hotels or hotel groups that were completed and opened in Europe between October 2022 and April 2024. This award goes to a hotel which stands out from among its competitors in terms of architecture and design. The 196+ forum Milan assesses a homogeneous combination of all the individual aspects to form a winning hotel concept.

The main criteria are:

originality of the accommodation concept,
architectural quality (building and façade),
integration into the project’s surroundings,
interior design
innovation (planning and construction, design, operation and technology, related processes, environment/sustainability)

10 Nominees Hotel Design Award 2024

Want to know more? Contact awards@196plus.com

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Winner 2023

Congratulations to the cōmodo for winning the Hotel Design Award 2023!

the cōmodo, which means cozy and comfortable, is a revitalization of an existing hotel building, the former Habsburger Hof, which was built by Friedrich Hirt in 1881, demolished and rebuilt in 1962, and most recently used as a spa for Vienna city officials. After three years of vacancy, Berlin-based architect Barbara Elwardt purchased it and converted it back into a hotel. The hotel's newly added rooms with mountain side view, are of wooden construction, and on the roof of the existing pool area, a sauna floor was built with views over the Gastein valley. Bad Gastein has a long wellness tradition. There, the cōmodo achieves the perfect balance between creativity and integration into the surroundings. While retaining the architecture of the existing building, a modern reinterpretation was created to continue telling the story of the house and the location. The result is a contemporary alpine design with a dash of 60's nostalgia, contemporary elements of eclecticism and Viennese coffeehouse atmosphere. The contemporary Berghaus now fuses history with innovation and modern technology.

Other finalists in alphabetical order:

Hôtel des Horlogers (Le Brassus, Switzerland). - The new building of the Swiss Hôtel des Horlogers in the Vallée de Joux, the cradle of Swiss watchmaking, was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group in an avant-garde architectural style. The building follows the topography of the valley through the zigzagging walls that slope down to the meadow. The Minergie ECO® certified 4-star superior hotel takes a holistic sustainable approach from building development to daily operations to reduce its environmental impact. The hotel is a meeting place for local and international lovers of watchmaking, architecture and nature. The interior design by Pierre Minassian of AUM pays homage to the surrounding landscape. For example, the roots in the lobby reference the area's vegetation. In the bar, the rock-like ceiling lights represent emptied lakes turned upside down. In the restaurant, large stone blocks pay homage to local stone walls. This creates a harmony between the hotel and the surrounding nature.

Wilmina (Berlin, Germany) - Wilmina is part of a 19th-century justice ensemble under preservation order. On Kantstraße, the former women's prison remained inaccessible for decades, hidden inside the block of houses. From the street, only the former district court in the front building can be seen, which has been given a new lease of life as an art and cultural space under the name Amtsalon. In the cell wing, several of the former prison cells were connected and converted into comfortable hotel rooms. To provide a view, the small cell windows were extended downward, while the grilles in the upper window section were retained. The former sluice yard was converted into a restaurant hall, and the existing urban wilderness in the central garden courtyard was complemented by a landscaped perennial garden and green roof areas. The concept aims for sustainable use of materials and follows the overarching strategy of preserving authentic traces of the past throughout the building to create spaces for the present. 44 guest rooms were created from the former prison cells. All guest rooms combine historical authenticity with modern comfort and offer soothing retreats through light colors, soft textures and warm, high-quality materials.

Want to know more about our Hotel Design Award 2023 Finalists? Follow this Link for more Information.

Winner of the Hotel Design Award 2022: Hotel Casa Cook Samos

Nominees of the Hotel Design Award 2022