For Greek Cypriot art collector Dakis Joannou, New Hotel has been a true labor of love. After picking apart the tired Olympic Palace Hotel, which was built in the heart of modern Athens in 1958, he set about restructuring it, piece-by-piece, without discarding anything. The result is an astonishing work of art ? a Gesamtkunstwerk, in which all the senses are in an overall intensified form of visual, tactile and somatic interaction with the objects, structures and materials.

Thanks to interiors by Brazilian visionaries Humberto and Fernando Campana, who have earned a reputation for creating living art from cast-offs and spares, key elements of design and culture collide on every floor. From the spa and fitness area to the topfloor terrace, which affords one of the best views in Athens, the designs are consistently intense. Each of the hotel?s 79 rooms and suites engages its guests by making them feel like they?re a part of the vivid in-room installations. There are three separate interior design concepts, each inspired by Greek culture, floating above the walls, challenging perceptions of depth and space. And in the public lounges, there are incredible tree-like sculptures crafted lovingly from a jumble of different-colored woods.