A maze of staircases leads absolutely nowhere within a series of new hotel rooms at ‘The Other Place’ in China, nodding to artist MC Escher’s famous lithograph print entitled ‘Relativity.’ Shenzhen-based architecture firm Studio10 renovated the existing rooms at ‘The Other Place’ guesthouse in Guilin, giving half the rooms a ‘maze’ theme with deep forest green walls and the other half a ‘dream’ theme in soft pink and white.

The surreal staircases stretch up the walls, taking advantage of the impressive ceiling height. Occasionally, there really is something at the end of them – a door, or a loft – though even the doors aren’t quite what they seem. Others just contribute to the graphic nature of the design, their undersides stepped as well to add to the optical illusions. The architects envision the design as a seamless transition from 2D to 3D.

“All components from the reality world such as lighting fixtures and electronic appliances have been concealed behind a series of black-painted doors, maintaining the pristine, chimerical nature of the space,” they say of the pink “dream” rooms.

“In the other forest-green-themed room, anti-gravitational stairs lead to golden doors, behind which there could be a trail leading to a secret forest – or some other unexpected findings that surprises you.”

While no physical space can quite capture the strange, vertigo-inducing spatial confusion of Escher’s drawing, ‘The Other Place’ definitely honors the original in a way that’s instantly recognizable (and also evocative of La Muralla Roja by Ricardo Bofill.)

Tree houses, neon lights, robot sculptures and all-white rooms reminiscent of outer space: these loopy lodgings definitely can’t be found at your local Holiday Inn. And why settle for a bland everyday room when you could have a totally one-of-a-kind respite designed by a local artist or even an internationally renowned architect? These 20 rooms at 6 hotels around the world are in a (weird but wonderful) class of their own.

Wanderlust Hotel, Singapore

(image via: habitusliving)

Try to conjure up the most incredibly creative, artistic hotel rooms you can possibly imagine, and they might very well look something like the real-life rooms of the Wanderlust Hotel in Singapore. Each room at the Wanderlust is like an art exhibit at a gallery, as different from one another as if they were created by a diverse team of designers – and that they were.

From the ‘industrial glam’ lobby you’ll walk up onto a first floor filled with bright neon capsule-like rooms, a second floor with similar neon rooms named for color-related songs, and a third floor featuring black-and-white rooms as well as stunning origami-themed rooms where every element, from the ceiling fan to the headboard, appears to be made from folded paper.

On the top floor, ‘Creature Comforts’, is an incredible array of surreal rooms including one that looks like a modern tree, another with a huge monster on the wall and yet another with a couch that looks like an overgrown typewriter run amok.

Lub D Hostel, Bangkok

(images via: weheart)

Vibrant colors and quirky murals give the Lub D Hostel in Bangkok the look of a high-end boutique hotel on a shoestring budget. Bare concrete surfaces and exposed ducts that would otherwise look drab take on a stylish industrial look when paired with modern furnishings and solid blocks of vivid paint.

Definitely not for conservative tourists, this youth-skewed hostel by designLAB is packed with fun and unexpected details like the striking living wall in the courtyard and a cheeky mural ad for a local cabaret that reads, ‘Ladyboy Heaven – Is it a she or a he? He he he…”

The Winston Hotel & Bar, Amsterdam

(images via: winston.nl)

You’d never guess from the staid exterior of The Winston in Amsterdam that this hotel & hostel – which also has its own bar and club – contains such wildly creative rooms inside. Or perhaps you would, if you realized you were in the city’s notorious Red Light District. The Winston is a budget art hotel where every room is unique, including one with a bizarre transformer-like robot mounted on the wall and a child-like room appropriately called the ‘Playnation Room’. The bathroom in the hotel’s club even has its own mini art gallery.

Hotel Puerta America, Madrid

(images via: hoteles-silken.com)

You know that the Hotel Puerta America in Madrid is something special before you even walk in the door. The exterior is encased in brightly colored cladding printed with the poem ‘Freedom’ by Paul Ellard. But that’s nothing compared to the showcase of international design talent found inside. Each of the 12 floors of this new boutique hotel was designed by one of the world’s most sought-after architects including Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, Normal Foster and Jean Nouvel.

Ascending from one floor to the next, one encounters jarring shifts in color and mood, shifting from Chipperfield’s toned-down monochromatic luxury to faceted stainless steel to Italian opulence. Marc Newsom’s sixth floor is practically vampiric with its red lacquer, white marble and black furniture while Ron Arad takes the seventh floor to a futuristic, almost space-like place with curved white Corian. Interactivity, Japanese minimalism, industrial cement and zebra-striped formica walls are just a few of the other themes included in the eclectic mix.

Hotel du Petit Moulin, Paris

(images via: hotelpetitmoulinparis.com)

Designed by Christian LaCroix, the Hotel du Petit Moulin in Paris embodies the style of the renowned clothier and of the city itself. Whimsical and feminine, the boutique hotel is located in a former 17th-century bakery and packed with toile, beading, intricate illustrations and luxe fabrics. Each of the hotel’s seventeen rooms offers a different way of experiencing the district of Le Marais in which the hotel is located, according to the designer.

“When I designed l’Hotel du Petit Moulin in Le Marais, I had the impression of rediscovering an erstwhile childhood dream, left by the wayside. A dream of living in a hotel, building a decor, day after day, in the colors of the times, putting ambiences together into volume and space and not only on paper or through fashion collections.”

Daddy Long Legs, South Africa

(images via: daddylonglegs.co.za)

Staying at the Daddy Long Legs Hotel in South Africa is like being part of an interactive art exhibition – and that’s exactly what the hotel believes many travelers are looking for. “They are independent, creative, forward thinking travellers….. who don’t want to stay in another regular hotel room in another regular city on another regular holiday.” No danger of that happening here.

The hotel has 13 rooms designed by 13 artists, each with their own creative theme. The Emergency Room resembles a blood-drenched hospital suite with an IV stand and a nurse’s uniform hanging on the wall, but it’s anything but sterile (and doesn’t smell like a hospital, so they say.) Graffiti artist Mak1One designed a highly unusual 3D wall sculpture above the bed in the ‘Being Mak1One’ room, and in ‘The Photo Booth’, 240 images by Antony Smyth create one large portrait.

[above: the upside-down room from the Propeller Island Hotel]

Ever wonder what it would be like to live upside-down, sleep like a vampire or break out of prison? More and more hotels are breaking out of the tradition of cookie-cutter rooms and are moving toward unique one-of-a-kind artist-driven room designs. Here are sixteen such rooms that span the spectrum from clever and kitchy to sexy and surreal. Even though some may look uncomfortable, unusual or downright freakish at least they aren’t among the 7 tiniest hotel rooms in the world. See more here: 70+ Amazing Theme, Castle, Jail and Art Hotels.

Watching horror movies one has to be a little bit curious about whether it is comfortable for vampires to sleep in attic coffins. Now those who are so inclined (or who prefer partying at night and sleeping during the day) can experience this vampire room first hand at the Propeller Island Hotel.

Prefer something less kitchy and more romantic? Perhaps the mirror room of the same hotel is for you. Mirrors are typically considered an erotic addition to a hotel room but this example carries the principle to the extreme with wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling mirrors spanning the diamond-shaped space.

Mirrors too cliche and traditional for your tastes? How about a room with elegant furnishings and also complete with not one but two cages. Perhaps the most amazing (and strange) aspect of this particular room is the option to lift curtains and put on shows for one’s neighboring guests.

Up for more of an adventure? One room is outfitted as a surrealistically colored jail cell reminiscent of a cartoon lockup. At the end of the night, guests are encouraged to ‘break out’ of the room by punching and escaping through a hole in one false wall.

The symbol room might be more appropriate for the reserved and intellectual clientele. With over 200 unique wood panels, this room provides endless black-and-white food for thought as well as arrangeable furniture objects that can be turned over and moved to create personalized configurations.

The Arte Luise Kunsthotel (or Art Hotel) is also located in Berlin but takes less of a themed approach, with a variety of rooms that are the unique realization of singular artists’ visions. As you can see from the images above, some of them are abstract, others playful and still others simply bizarre. Best of all, each time someone stays in one of these creative rooms the artist gets a percentage of the payment.

Like the Kunsthotel, the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Canada relies on one artist per room with remarkably varied results. One room (left) purports to simulate a meeting place for a “lesbian separatists commune,” another celebrates Canadian culture and kitsch (upper right) while yet another is simply the artists’ meditation on the history of Victorian-era English culture (lower right).

The Max Hotel in Seattle likewise boasts the work of artists but in this case emphasizes local art and is not limited to painting and sculpture. Shown above, local art is placed in rooms while photography and other media are applied both within rooms as well as in halls and other common spaces. A compilation of all of the art in the hotel is also available for purchase.

For those who enjoy art but aren’t sure about sleeping in it, the Benesse Art Site Naoshima in Japan provides a healthy compromise: a hotel attached to a beautifully constructed gallery of modern art. Visitors can interact in common eating and museum spaces while retiring to their own more conventional hotel rooms with sparse and minimalistic art. Looking for a more exotic destination? Be sure to check out these related articles on 3 of the most bizarre micronations on the planet and 6 ocean-going and underwater hotels from around the world or this book on 1000 incredible places to see before you die.

Next: Incredibly Unconventional Hotel Rooms

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