Grand or gaudy, brilliant or just big, this giant-sized, crystal-styled structure is to be the first in a series of gemstone-inspired hotels in which guest rooms are tucked behind colorful glazing – even its designers at NL Architects concede the scheme is at least “slightly insane.”

Dubbed the Amethyst Hotel, this project draws on a long history of cultural associations with this crystal: “The violet-coloured quartz stone has been the subject of numerous myths through history – in Greece it was believed to prevent drunkenness, while medieval soldiers used it for protection during battle, and others thought it could strengthen the immune system or prevent nightmares.”

Kamiel Klaasse and Pieter Bannenberg also drew inspiration from the long-standing tradition of having huge atrium spaces at the heart of hotel designs, seen in major chains like Hyatt and Marriott in the United States and around the world.

Instead of constructing the whole building around an central atrium, however, this approach conceptually slices the structure through its center, just as a geode is cut open to reveal the inner cavity and its hidden crystals.

Set to be built on an artificial island in China (though shown here in various theoretical settings), the design is already arguably serving part of its purpose simply by having been proposed: it is being discussed, debated, critiqued and commented upon by architects and designers around the world and as they say: all press is good press.