The Murray, Hong Kong, China

When The Murray hotel opened in early 2018, it marked British architect Norman Foster’s third project in the city.

The Murray, the flagship property of Niccolo Hotels, involved renovating a dowdy 1960s government building on the southern fringes of Hong Kong’s Central district and turning it into a 336-room, 25-storey luxury hotel to rival its neighbours the Four Seasons and the Mandarin Oriental. The renovation has been so successful that The Murray was voted Refurbishment of the Year in the 2018 Rics Awards.

For this conservation project, Wharf Hotels, owner of The Murray, enlisted Foster + Partners.

The architecture firm enlarged the recessed windows, which are carefully orientated to maximise the light but minimise Hong Kong’s tropical heat, to make them all almost perfect squares. It added luxe corner suites with impressive views of the downtown skyline, and totally redesigned the ground level of the building. Now, there’s a generous outdoor wraparound terrace and a mezzanine garden level where an employee carpark used to be. A large cassia tree juts through a paving slab by the entrance: conserving it was part of the heritage deal struck with the Hong Kong government.

The tree is emblematic of the property’s location. Set back from Queens Road Central, The Murray has – uniquely for a Hong Kong luxury hotel – views of Hong Kong Park and the Peak. From almost every room, there’s greenery outside. Even from the elegant Tai Pan dining room on the garden level, a tall green wall hides the traffic on Cotton Tree Drive.