SEOUL: Hotel Sohsul

Seoul is vastly becoming a hotspot for boutique hotels; the opening of IP Boutique Hotel, Hotel the Designers, Park Hyatt, and the recently opened Hotel Sohsul are indicative of the dynamic capital’s emerging creative scene in hospitality. Located on the south bank of Han River in the tiny neighbourhood of Yeoksam-dong, Hotel Sohsul (meaning snow in English) is a product of 1990 Urban Architecture Office, whose painstaking effort to design various guest rooms of different forms using similar materials is so successful that they create a variety of spatial concepts in limited spaces. Walking through the lobby and the restaurant at mid-level, the materials of the floors work their way up in matching colours and thus create a continuous feeling of space. The same concept has been used in more than 12 guest rooms and suites. The interior features diamond-shaped or geo patterns in contrasting wood and marble, while bricks flood the surface areas of floors, walls, ceilings and even the hotel’s façade, creating a truly sleek and modern space designed for today’s urban travellers. –Maria Mao Cui