The AHEAD Awards 2025 Shortlist, honoring best Hospitality Experience and Design experiences, has shortlisted nearly 80 ambitious projects across 13 main categories this year. With only five projects reaching the final stage in each category, this list represents the continent’s design pinnacle. We, however, are looking beyond this Global Programme list to examine worldwide examples of Architectural Innovation, focusing particularly on Sustainable Architecture solutions.
Restaurant and Guest Room Categories
La Maison de Manfred, Curio Collection by Hilton, Metz
Philippe Starck‘s concept offers a gallery space that brings together high art pieces. A structurally notable point is the balancing of industrial metal details with heavy textile wall coverings in the guest rooms; this provides a tactile and contrasting surface quality to the accommodation area.
Mercury Rooftop Bar, Four Seasons Jumeirah
Design: This work by S+S Design Studio (Sundukovy Sisters) features a sculptural focal point that brings the Liquid Silver concept to the center of the bar. The project’s technical success lies in the flawless curves produced with advanced casting techniques and the structural contrast created with hard materials like BACCARAT milk onyx.
Capella Taipei
Designed by André Fu Studio, the structure, rising on the city’s complex subsoil, stands out for being designed to high seismic resistance standards. The modern architectural response to Taiwan’s tropical climate, using special shading and ventilation systems on the facade, demonstrates the project’s solution to structural challenges.
Ran Baas The Palace
Design: Abha Narain Lambah Associates. The main technical success of the project during the conversion of a historic palace into a hotel is the adaptation of the old brick and stone wall structures to modern load-bearing requirements. The traditional methods used in the restoration of local masonry document the project’s structural adaptability.
Bar, Club and Lounge Category Highlights
The Minerva Bar, Orient Express La Minerva, Rome
This concept, bearing the signature of Hugo Toro, creates a modern ‘inner shell’ within Rome’s historic structure. The space frames the original wall textures, revealed during restoration, with polished metallic surfaces and color-blocked furniture to create architectural contrast. The focus is on the clear separation between history and contemporary intervention.
New Hotel Construction and Ecological Accommodation
Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino, Greece
Realized in collaboration with Tombazis & Associates Architects and MKV Design, this coastal project combines simple Aegean architecture with modular and pre-fabricated structural elements. The accommodation units maintain a low-density layout to protect the natural environment and focus on the use of local natural stone and raw concrete to integrate the structure with the topography.
The winners of the AHEAD Awards 2025 shortlist will be announced on Thursday, November 27, 2025, at a spectacular ceremony in London.
Which project’s material and structural solution will set the next major trend in hospitality architecture? We look forward to your analysis! ?
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