The Barceló Pearl Farm Island Resort, Samal Island, Philippines

A Living Room by the Sea

The houses were built based upon the traditional stilt houses of the Samal seafarers.

Homes and nature linked by wooden footbridges and even by rope ladders – a more beautiful way of getting from the living room to the beach does not exist.

Situated south of Manila at the Gulf of Davao, 1.5. hours by air and then 45 mins by boat.
Typical Filipino food, the seafood is particularly good.

http://www.philippine-travel.co.uk/~pthotels/hotels/davao/pearl_farm/index.htm

Red Capital Club & Residence, Beijing, China

On Mao’s Trail

Private residence by leading politicians as their pieds-à-terre of choice.
The concubines’ rooms are next to the Chairman’s Suite – they consist almost entirely of beds and are furnished with with antiques from the Qing Dynasty.
The Restaurant’s „Zhongnanhai cuisine“ includes Mao’s favourite dishes.
The stretch limousine that once used to chaffeur Madame Mao is available for the exlusive use of hotel guests – all seven meters of it including red flags, champagne and Russian caviar.

http://www.redcapitalclub.com/

Benesse House, Naoshima, Japan

On Form

Designed by Tadao Ando in 1992 – the hotel itself is a work of art.
More than half is underground.
From the air it looks like a giant Fisher-Price toy and is linked to the the galleries of the Naoshime Contempory Art Museum and a Seaside Park with landscape art.
Huge concrete cylinder with a transom window.
The restaurants „Sound of the Ocean“ and „Wind between the Pine Trees“ serve elaborate Kaiseki cuisine.

http://www.naoshima-is.co.jp/english/first.html