Hotel Spotlight: The Sail at the End of the City

Ricardo Bofill's W Barcelona — known locally simply as "the sail" — has been part of the Barceloneta skyline since 2009. Its 26 floors of mirrored glass arc up directly from the Mediterranean, and the interiors, originally designed by Isabel López Vilalta with later contributions from various creative teams, have evolved continuously.

A working language

The W Barcelona interiors lean on a tight Mediterranean palette — bone, sand, white-washed wood, polished concrete, splashes of cobalt — punctuated by sculptural lighting and oversized seating that nods to coastal modernism without falling into the cliché.

Why we love these pieces

The hospitality-grade upholstery work in the Wet Deck and Salt areas is some of the best on the Spanish coast. When pieces from Mediterranean properties of this calibre rotate out, they carry both a design lineage and a climate-tested durability that translates beautifully into private homes.