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Celebrated French architect Jean Nouvel keeps arguing against generalist architecture. In October 2009, Nouvel has presented one of his latest works, the Pavilion B at Genoa’s Nautical Tradeshow. With a extraordinary lesson on aesthetics, Nouvel, who holds the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2008, has accounted for the essence of his accomplishment: his goal was to lay the edifice within the urban and social texture of the city of Genoa.

To be sure, from the vantage point of the water, the edifice is in harmony with the sea and the boats that are moored. A comparable thought can be felt by contemplating other of Nouvel’s works like the Muse Quai Branly in Paris, the Akbar Tower in Barcelona and the development of Colle Val d’Elsa in Tuscany. Nouvel declares himself resistant to the “carbon copy cities” in an interview by Renata Fontanelli published in La Repubblica, Italy, on October 12th 2009, and of which are some scraps roughly translated from Italian:

“These days one cannot tell the difference from San Paolo in Brazil from Dubai or Shanghai from Milan because it is as if the designers do not take into consideration the distinctiveness of each urban agglomeration . Architects do not seem to look at the light, the wind, the water, the history and the culture that make every city, be it small or large, inimitable. [...] Today,” wraps up Nouvel, “modern architecture lies in the relation with its context.”

This vision is in agreement with the modern traveler’s rising attention to boutique hotels. In truth, in the past 20 years the market of boutique hotels has experienced a remarkable surge and this is perhaps due to the fact that people are looking more and more for a hotel that can provide them with a pinch of the city’s essence, rather than picking a “carbon copy hotel”, a “big box” the likes of which you could find in any other city.

Just like a “boutique” in French describes a small upscale shop to distinguish it from a big department store, likewise a boutique hotel is different from a large Hotel Chain, which has typically standardized features and looks. Boutique hotels are likely to render the flavor of the location where it is set and it is a one-of-a-kind experience.

In a world that is becoming more and more standardized, where merchandise, shops, restaurants, indeed society broadly speaking is developing into a homogenized body, boutique hotels are a guiding light for variety and originality.

David Maranzana has founded Epoque Hotels and Avantgarde Hotels, a collection of boutique hotels in the major destinations worldwide.