This is a unique view of Bordeaux. A destination for those who live there and those who are discovering the city for the first time. The Marriott International group’s new Renaissance Bordeaux hotel has a coffee shop beside the garden; a restaurant, bar and pool on the roof; an ideal location opposite the Cité du Vin wine museum; and prestigious names behind the architecture and design.

This four-star establishment, with 149 rooms, has everything a hotel needs to be truly exceptional. To create a dialogue between the interior and the exterior, between what is natural and what has been carefully fashioned, the old and the brand new: that was Michael Malapert’s challenge with the Hotel Renaissance project.

A curator as much as an interior designer, he has taken ownership of the architectural journey by creating, for each stage on that journey, a setting that suits its function.“The overall identity has been fragmented in order to allow a particular story to bedeveloped in each space,” he explains. Under his guidance, the hotel has become a living space with several entranceways.

The lobby is associatedwith a coffee shop that has both indoor and outdoor areas – this is the ideal spot for informal gatherings.

The meeting rooms are for more formal gatherings, where conversations can become more creative.

In the bedrooms, wooden furniture, velvet curtains and brass that reflects the light warm and enliven the raw concrete. A pattern picked out in gold on the ceiling describes Bordeaux’s wine appellations. A carefully placed sofa invites you to seat yourself in front of the large patio doors, with their unrestricted view. Each bedroom features works of art specially commissioned for the hotel, so that every room has its own unique identity.

On the ninth floor, the restaurant’s large bar, made of terrazzo, is dramatized by an illuminated paper sculpture. At the back, a salon that can be closed off for private events features a large glass-walled wine cellar. Farther forward, the spacious terrace is protected by an awning which doesn’t affect the unrestricted view of the city. The sophisticated furniture blurs the boundary between the exterior and the interior, allowing for the maximum feeling of spaciousness.

The cocktail bar, with its wooden cladding and its rope lights, takes its inspiration from the shacks in the Bay of Arcachon. The furnishings blend natural materials with patterned fabrics. And here, too, there’s an unencumbered view and a rooftop terrace.