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Design Hotels

The Logan's Run Hotel in Rimini Italy

Where: Via G.Bruno 28, Rimini, Italy, 47900

September 25, 2006 at 12:00 PM | 2 Comments

While Ian Schrager is shouting from the hilltops, "the boutique hotel dead, long live the scary gothic sex castle on Lex", over in Italy, Ron Arad is not listening, thank god.

Meet Rimini Italy's DuoMo hotel, where Arad recently unveiled his version of the hotel of the future. Turns out, like Jamiroquai, Arad believes the future is made of virtual insanity. While worldwide many design wonks are gushing, turns out the locals aren't sure they like what they see:

The police were in earlier, officiously playing around with their tape measures in the hotel's impressive entrance corridor as if they were hoping to find just something a millimetre out of line. People stop and stare at the bronze facade and peer through the red lacquer doors at the ring-of-steel reception as though it might have landed from Mars, or somewhere equally un-Italian. "People here are used to a more rustic place," explains Alessandro, a wood importer who lives down the road. "I think it's fantastic, it's perfect. But I'm not sure they will all accept something so new." Even Matteo's sister declares it "over-the-top".

Furthermore, according Jonathan Bell, who reviewed the hotel for New York Times Style Magazine, the hotel's unique design does not extend to the guest rooms:

Initially, the room feels claustrophobic, since the bathroom wall intrudes into what becomes a narrow corridor leading to the sleeping area.  There you'll fin little more than a double bed, a slender writing desks, a skinny flat-screened television, and slivers of deep-pile carpet placed over a  springy linoleum floor.

However, despite the rather tiny guest rooms, and the local's uncertainty, potential guests are still phoning constantly from all over the world to spend a night in one of the 41 rooms, many with outdoor Jacuzzis. Whether or not these potential guests are frothing at the bit to get a room because this is the only hotel in the Rimini's historic centre, or because of Arad's truly unique hotel design is for you to decide.

Put us on the list of folks that want to stay at Duomo. Without question DuoMo hotel qualifies as one of our rare destination hotels.

Related Stories:
· Sci-Fi Sleeper in Rimini [T Style Magazine]
· Hotel Duomo Reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Blingo! [Guardian]