Rosewood São Paulo

Cidade Matarazzo spent decades behind its own walls, first as a maternity hospital and then as nothing at all. The Rosewood occupies the result: brick pavilions from the 1920s brought back into use, with a new tower by Jean Nouvel standing beside them under a dense skin of planting.

Rooms split between the two. The heritage wing gives high ceilings and deep windows; the tower gives terraces and a wall of green that filters the light before it reaches the bed. Neither feels like a compromise, and guests tend to have a firm preference after one night.

Art is not confined to a gallery here. Commissioned Brazilian work sits in stairwells, corridors and landings, which means most of it is met on the way somewhere else.

Beyond the wall, Avenida Paulista is minutes away. Inside it, there is a chapel, a garden and an unusual amount of quiet for a city of this size.