Brach Madrid - Evok Collection

Staying anywhere on Madrid’s Gran Vía is a treat, but the new Brach Madrid, a five-star hotel designed by Philippe Starck, offers next-level luxury. The building itself, of course, isn’t new: part of the avenue’s dazzling architectural showcase, it was completed in 1922, initially housing a stylish café-bar on the street level and various designer ateliers on the upper floors. Rich material for Starck’s artistic reimaginings — and he’s made the most of the building’s history, borrowing inspiration from its original style and function to create a hotel that’s glamorous and modern.

A Parisian-style pastry shop, separated from pedestrian traffic by large picture windows, enlivens the entrance, the aromas of freshly baked croissants filling a lobby lined with traditional terracotta tile. The hotel’s elegant restaurant is modeled after the city’s twenties-era cafés, but with a sleek open kitchen, and a leafy rooftop terrace looks out over the romantic silhouettes and decorative facades of downtown. Rooms and suites are more theatrical, in typical Starck fashion, with sultry lighting, deep red walls, parquet floors, leather headboards, eclectic design pieces, and palatial bathrooms.