T

he Artist Grand Hotel of Art is just across from Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum, and it's not surprising that some of the excitement and energy from Frank Gehry's design seems to have spilled over into this hotel. The hotel describes itself as "not just a hotel to stay at, but a colourist microcosmos." It may sound a bit hyperbolic, and we admit it may have lost something in the translation from the Spanish, but nevertheless, it does convey a fairly accurate sense of the bold, almost whimsical nature of the design, courtesy of Javier Mariscal and Fernando Salas.

The interior looks like, and quite literally is, a museum of 20th century furniture design, containing representative pieces from a variety of eras and schools. The reading corner is a quiet nook featuring a library of design and architecture books and an assortment of historical sofas and chairs, while Sixty-One Lobby Bar has been inspired by the spirit of 1930s New York and is home to Art Deco design details and monthly live jazz nights. It’s an ideal spot for cocktail hour, as is the rooftop bar with a spectacular view of the Gugenheim, before heading to restaurant OLIO, which fuses Basque and French cuisines.

There is also a small fitness center, and a wellbeing area with massage rooms, a sauna, Turkish bath, and relaxation space, but the design is the real story here, as the hotel is just 100 feet from one of the more important structures of the 20th century. The centerpiece is Javier Mariscal's "Fossil Cypress," an 85-foot trunk of rolled stone that stretches the vertical length of the hotel's interior, and goes a long way toward making up for the fact that the interior-facing rooms have no view, whilst the rest look across the Guggenheim. Then again, the interior view is nothing to complain about — the hotel's core clientele of athletes, models, and design professionals tend to be rather easy on the eyes.