The eight-part key

Materials

Eight materials, one colour each, used the same way on every page of this site.

Brick Timber Salt Stone Ice Glass Steel Concrete

The colours are arbitrary. Stone is green here and glass is blue, and neither choice has anything to do with how those materials look. A colour is only a key, so that a strip at the head of an entry can be read at a glance and the same material keeps the same signal across all four sections. No section of this guide has a colour of its own.

BRICK

Brick builds a wall out of small units, so the surface keeps a visible grid and a warm tone.

Expect thick walls, deep window reveals, and rooms that hold an even temperature through the day.

Unused in this file

No hotel in the current file is described as brick in its published sources, so this colour is unused. The material stays on the list because the list is fixed.

TIMBER

Timber arrives as boards and beams, so the frame stays visible and the surface ages in the open.

Expect grain underfoot, a little movement in the floor, and a smell that stays in the room.

12 hotels

SALT

Salt is cut into blocks and stacked dry, so the building belongs to the flat it stands on.

Expect pale walls, a grainy surface under the hand, and floors that crunch a little when you cross them.

1 hotel

STONE

Stone is heavy and usually local, so a building made of it repeats the geology of its own valley.

Expect cool surfaces, deep thresholds, and sound that dies quickly against the wall.

6 hotels

ICE

Ice is cut, packed and stacked for a single season, so the building is rebuilt rather than repaired.

Expect a cold room, light that travels through the wall, and thermal bedding as standard.

4 hotels

GLASS

Glass turns a wall into a view, and hands the room over to whatever the weather is doing outside.

Expect a bright room, a long sightline, and less separation between the bed and the landscape.

16 hotels

STEEL

Steel carries load in thin members, so floors can be stacked close and openings kept wide.

Expect compact volumes, a hard surface near the head, and structure that you can hear.

7 hotels

CONCRETE

Concrete is poured in one piece against formwork, so the wall keeps the print of its mould.

Expect bare grey surfaces, sharp edges, and rooms shaped by the pour rather than by finishes.

8 hotels

A material is listed for a hotel only when it appears in the published description of that building. We do not infer materials from photographs, and we do not add a fourth material to round out a set.