The mastermind behind some of the world’s most exciting hospitality projects, Belgian architect-designer Jean-michel Gathy discusses his creative process and the details that make a well-designed room blissfully restful

His name may not be immediately familiar to some, but his client list reads like a who’s who of the hospitality industry. Architect Jean-michel Gathy is the man behind some of the world’s most iconic resort designs, such as the One&only Reethi Rah and the Cheval Blanc Randheli, both in the Maldives; The St Regis Lhasa Resort in Tibet; the Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort in Hainan, China; The Setai in Miami Beach, Florida; the Viceroy Snowmass in Aspen, Colorado; and the Aman Venice in Italy. Gathy boasts three decades of experience in highend hotel design that’s all-inclusive: exteriors, interiors and landscaping. “We are the spoilt kids of the hotel industry,” he says. “Whenever a first-class hotel wants to open somewhere, they always contact us. We get two or three offers a day. We have done so many… The more we live within that context, the more we appreciate the lifestyle, the more we understand it and the more we get a kick out of it.” Always one step ahead of the competition, the principal designer of Malaysia-based Denniston International Architects & Planners has revolutionised the hospitality sector with his inspired designs, which showcase a profusion of swimming pools and water features, sustainability and local cultural elements. Denniston Architects is currently working on more than 40 projects globally, including those for Jumeirah in Bali, Aman in New York and Rio de Janeiro, and a hotly anticipated green project with Leonardo Dicaprio in Belize. Although the firm didn’t handle any hotel work last year, about 15 of the hotels it has worked on are expected to launch over the next three years.

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Architectdesigner Jean Michel-gathy