The Waterhouse at South Bund, Shanghai, Chinese Mainland

In the 1930s, it was a Japanese army headquarters. Then it was a warehouse. Now, this historic building on the Huangpu riverfront is one of the city’s coolest hotels. While it’s undoubtedly luxurious, this four-storey, 19-room boutique retains plenty of its time-worn character, from cracked, distressed walls to weathered brick floor tiles.

The design team, Neri&Hu, one of Shanghai’s most talented architecture firms, intentionally blurred the line between public and private, interior and exterior. There’s a guest room visible directly above reception, for example, and several other private spaces allow a peek into the communal areas of the hotel.

For design lovers, there’s more: a considerable collection of museum-quality furniture including pieces by Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, Hans Wegner, Antonio Citterio and Kana Ishikawa.