Silken Hotel Puerta America Madrid

Blue, orange, red, and yellow canvas wraps the glass-and-steel tower that holds the Silken Hotel Puerta América Madrid. Glass elevators glide up and down the exterior, offering views of Madrid along with access to the floors. A different architect or designer conceived each of the dozen guest tiers, public and meeting rooms, restaurant, bar, pool, and fitness center. The superstar talent included Norman Foster, architect of London’s Millennium Bridge; Richard Glickman, who designed Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum; and Zaha Hadid, winner of the 2004 Pritzker Prize.

Chef Ivan Saez practices the art of reinventing Spanish cuisine at Lágrimas Negras, a restaurant designed by France’s iconic Christian Liaigre. Like the public areas, every guest floor has its surprises. Architects Eva Castro and Holger Kehne called for a metallic wonderland on theirs. Couturiers Victorio & Lucchino whipped up a fantasy of velvet and marble sphinxes. Arata Isozaki, known as a master of understatement, brought in white cedar soaking tubs and shoji screens. Despite dramatic differences of form, all rooms and suites provide five-star functionality, everything from top-of-the-line bedding to Wi-Fi.

Immersion in such a world of creativity primes groups to generate their own innovations. Guests meet in minimalist modular event spaces—blank slates, of sorts—for up to 1,000 delegates, supported by the latest technology and a meetings team always ready to step out of the box.