The Edition brand of lifestyle hotels will next month premier its sophomore outing in Istanbul and, with it, establish a principal that will define this mold-breaking and genre-defining creative template, and thus change the face of the prestige hotel industry forever.

The Istanbul Edition makes its home in an ancient metropolis legendary for its incredible architecture, whose spires and turrets aspired to the heavens. It is only fitting, therefore, that this thirteen-storey tower, designed by respected New York based architects Gabellini Sheppard, is located in the bustling Levent neighborhood, a financial district noted for its already impressive skyline, as well as the thriving Kanyon Mall - whose ‘architectural canyon’ design has won international awards and is a landmark in itself. The Istanbul Edition comprises seventy seven capacious guest lofts and a breathtaking penthouse spread over an entire floor.

The project seems to have been marinated in the history of this, one of the world’s most venerated and significant capitals, with the sheer richness and depth of the interiors inviting guests to a commune both in, and with, a true sense of the Byzantine.

Drawing the guest into this unique Istanbul experience, the lobby sits beneath an epic dome, inspired by the classic Ottoman style that reverberates around the hotel. Throughout, the walls, ceilings and floors are lined by Mosaic tiles - a base note of the Byzantine style, as is the bronze and gold leaf bedecking the hotel’s public spaces. These include the spectacular Gold Bar, whose VIP seating area summons up the unmistakable old world chic of the Turkish tea room, featuring plush leather ottoman couches arrayed in the u-shaped open-spirited conviviality that characterized the old Bosphorus villas that inspire the design. The twenty-thousand square foot spa, by market-leaders ESPA, brings the sumptuous Hammam (or Turkish bath) ritual to a whole new audience.

Classic motifs of Turkish architecture dominate the interiors, which are rendered in highly evocative tones of bronze and white gold, with Rosewood and soaped Oak creating a sensual and organic feel to the walls, ceilings and floors of the guests rooms. Guests can expect bathrooms created from a thrilling mix of glass walls, natural stone and ancient marble dating from Greek and Roman times, while traditional hanging lamps and curtains woven from local silk also gild their experience.

The Istanbul Edition offers a resort style environment - featuring exquisite fare from the world renowned Cipriani restaurant group, a private screening room, a state of the art nightclub and a vast event space - which offers an unrivalled combination of elegance and luxury to either business or leisure travelers.

For those creating them, creative projects are often like children - they are products of a particular time and often more crucially, a particular place. There is a magic about the act of creating that the sights and smells, the light and sounds of a place become all the more redolent when one makes something there. One’s children are utterly unique and at the same time bound together by the sense of family.

This paean to Istanbul, a reimagining of the spirit of its city setting, convinces the guest that Istanbul is the only place on earth in which it could exist. This is the marker laid down by the stellar team behind the Edition concept - the Marriott hotel group, and the father of the lifestyle hotel, Ian Schrager.

Each and every Edition Hotel will be defined by one unifying principal; that they will be utterly unique to their location. The casually top drawer Waikiki Edition, the first in this revolutionary partnership which opened in October last year, is a surfer’s luxury hideaway that has already proved one of the most successful new hotels in recent history.

The Istanbul Edition, its Turkish sibling, is sure to have the same stratospheric trajectory.

     - Ben Stewart

The Istanbul Edition

Address:  Buyukdere Caddesi No 138, Levent
Istanbul, 34330
Tel:  90 212 317 7700
Website:  www.editionhotels.com

The Istanbul Edition


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The Istanbul Edition 2
The Istanbul Edition 3
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