One of architect Zaha Hadid’s final projects, Morpheus is a daring hotel in Macau, starting with its sensuous exoskeleton exterior made of aluminum-framed glass and a figure-eight central void.

Located in Tel Aviv’s oldest district, the Jaffa from noted hotelier Aby Rosen and legendary architect John Pawson is one of the most architecturally complex and culturally significant new hotel projects in the city, blending a renovated 19th-century, neo-Roman former hospital with an expansive new build.

Partnering with the Chinese federal government, architect Calvin Tsao and his brother, developer Chavalit Frederick Tsao worked for nearly a decade to bring the integrated, 46-acre wellness community known as Sangha to fruition. “The physical aspect of wellness is costly,” says Calvin. “We wanted to offer wellness in a more democratic way.”

Part of Sydell Group’s lifestyle brand, the 220-room Line DC from New York-based INC Architecture & Design recalls its past as a former church with its centerpiece chandelier crafted from church organs and where pews line elevator bays.

Sydell Group also outdoes itself with the opulent NoMad Los Angeles, which includes an F&B program helmed by chef Daniel Humm and restaurateur Will Guidara and a design from French architect Jacques Garcia and firm KFA that draws from its past as the former headquarters of the Bank of Italy. The brand continues its reign with a new Las Vegas outpost in the Park MGM.

The tasteful redo of Arne Jacobsen’s circa-1960 Royal Hotel into the Radisson Collection Royal Hotel Copenhagen was a career-defining project for on-our-radar studio Space Copenhagen. The Danish design duo showcased and preserved the stunning skyscraper with elements including Jacobsen’s renowned, made-for-the-hotel Egg chair among other modern details.

Hotelier and developer Anthony Champalimaud remade the gorgeous upstate New York icon Troutbeck by partnering with his mother, designer Alexandra Champalimaud, who created an understated, elegant retreat that lets the location speak for itself.

Another innovative concept from the formidable Shanghai-based Neri & Hu, Tsingpu Yangzhou Retreat reinterprets traditional Chinese vernacular through a modern lens, marrying numerous new buildings with existing, low-slung structures.

Closing for more than 20 months (the first time in its storied history), New Delhi hotel the Oberoi underwent a massive $100 million makeover from New York designer Adam D. Tihany, who was inspired by the modernist work of architect Edward Lutyens.

A thoughtful homage to Brazilian culture, the Oppenheim Architecture- and Studio Arthur Casas-designed Emiliano Rio de Janeiro is as visually iconic as its home in the city’s Copacabana district, with traditional cobogo bricks covering the hotel’s striking exterior.

The hip England-born brand the Hoxton hopped across the pond in 2018 to Brooklyn’s trendy Williamsburg neighborhood. Here, an eclectic and vintage-inspired design marks many flexible day-to-night spaces. A Portland location recently opened with Chicago also on the boards.

Located in a new mixed-use development in Shanghai, Swire Hotels’ fourth and much-hyped opening of Middle House is a masterful design crafted in Piero Lissoni’s signature elegant and timeless style.

A lingering fog hovers above China’s the Mist Hot Spring Hotel, an ethereal escape from Department of Architecture Co. that showcases the power of wellness-based design when done right.

The one-stop shop for wellness, coworking, and hospitality, the Assemblage launched its second New York location on John Street in the Financial District this year but with an added bonus: a 79-room hotel also designed by New York firm Meyer Davis, which also handled the club’s interiors.

Known for revitalizing derelict buildings, ASH NYC has done it again in true Big Easy flair with Hotel Peter and Paul, a four-year restoration of the former St. Peter and Paul Catholic church and school.

Situated in a fishing village off the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico that’s only reachable by ferry, Punta Caliza—the vision of architecture student Claudia Muñoz and her professors Magui Peredo and Salvador Macías Corona of Estudio Macías Peredo—channels Mexico’s ancient Mayan buildings for a truly authentic and breathtaking design.

From Los Angeles firm Avenue Interior Design, the SLS Baha Mar in the Bahamas is evocative of the brand’s (and sbe’s) evolution with a relaxed yet sophisticated design firmly rooted in its location.

The long-awaited Mondrian Doha, also from sbe, is eclectic, quirky, and quintessentially Marcel Wanders while still paying tribute to its location with intricate mosaics and grand gestures that are as fantastical as they are bold.

A calming refuge in Iceland complements the geothermal baths at Blue Lagoon, one of the country’s biggest attractions, complete with a timeless design from Basalt Architects.

Gulla Jónsdóttir ushers the 1926-era celebrity haven Mayfair Hotel into the 21st century with a sleek black and white palette and dramatic Art Deco-inspired lobby that recall the Golden Age of Hollywood.

British designer Ben Thompson completed Heckfield Place by transforming an 18th-century English country retreat, a longterm project that Boston-based entrepreneur and owner Gerald Chan first sought planning permission for in 2009. “It’s as if you’ve blown the dust off an old country estate and put in great furniture and updates, rather than feeling overdressed and in high heels,” says Thompson.

As 2018 closes, keep an eye on Eaton Workshop from hotelier Katherine Lo. Dubbed an activist brand, its debut DC hotel with a design from Parts and Labor Design and Gachot Studios aims to spark debate, conversation, and change. The nostalgic-inflected Eaton Hong Kong from AvroKO joined the brand this month.

Joining a slew of openings from Ian Schrager’s EDITION brand this year, including properties in Barcelona and Shanghai, the Wimberly Interiors-designed Abu Dhabi EDITION features 198 guestrooms and 57 residences on the waterfront of Al Batee.

Rising 246 feet, the art-infused citizenM Bowery is the largest modular building ever built to date with architecture by Stephen Jacobs and interiors from Amsterdam-based Concrete. Look closer and you’ll notice 62 familiar faces from the local community taken by photographer Christelle de Castro peeking out from the façade’s windows (now installed as a collage behind self check-in kiosks).

Old meets new at the Pantheon Iconic Rome Hotel, an Autograph Collection hotel, thanks to a contemporary interpretation of the city’s significant history from Studio Marco Piva.

Baroque grandeur abounds in architect Saulius Mikštas’ stunning design for the 104-room Hotel Pacai. Located in the heart of Vilnius, Lithuania’s Old Town, it effortlessly marries the past with modern details.

Rottet Studio’s playful take on an army barracks redefines the retro redo of Cavalry Court in College Station, Texas, the second of three collaborations between the design firm and Valencia Group.

Reshaping Toronto’s skyline ischic urban resort Hotel X Toronto, the newest offering from the Library Hotel Collection and longtime collaborator architect Stephen B. Jacobs, with eclectic interiors by Andi Pepper.

Wellness-based design continues to amaze and push limits with Switzerland’s massive Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, which includes the modernist Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa from MKV Design and Rüssli Architekten (pictured) and the Matteo Thun-crafted Waldhotel, complete with a lattice-clad exterior.

Dorm life has come a long way from uninspiring, drab quarters. Look no further than Valencia-based firm Masquespacio’s vibrant, playful interpretation at the Student Hotel Campus Barcelona.