Augarten Hotel

Class: First

Style: Cutting edge

Rooms: 56

Günther Domenig has created a unique statement for modernity with the Augartenhotel’s unusual glass and metal structure in Graz – a city of gothic, renaissance, baroque architecture, which was also Europe’s Cultural City of 2003.

To Günther Domenig, good architecture is all about capacity, economy and stature. At the same time, the Augarten calls Domenig the “architect of the game”, meaning that this hotel is where guests are invited to play. In the guestrooms and apartments straightforward streamlined furnishings by Cappellini and Ligne Roset are well arranged in sitting areas, work spaces and balconies or terraces and feature original artwork, which all come together to make space for thought, work and yes, play. In one particularly remarkable example, the 21st century, red aluminium “Rosso” desk by Austrian designer Andreas Thaler is perfectly paired with Verner Panton’s 1960s cantilevered plastic chair.

No space is overlooked as a creative venue or place to exchange ideas, such as a 24-hour bar or the indoor pool ringed by rainbow-coloured “Supra sofas” that Thaler designed using high-density and very high-tech foam. Vibrant works from 70 different contemporary painters and sculptors are displayed like museum pieces throughout the hotel. To soak in the sight of the old city, take a seat on the rooftop terrace where Gustav Troger’s elongated figure “Jochen Rindt” contemplates the view and Marianne Maderna’s abstract sculpture “Faltung 3” lengthens Augartenhotel’s general verticality.