From a very ordinary office building near Gare de l’Est, César Lassarat created a new kind of hôtel. It’s a connected living space with XXL communal areas where tourists and Parisians can hang out: a plant-filled central courtyard, a luminous coffee shop, conference rooms, a pop-up store and 2.0 services – a self-check-in machine, a miniature market that’s open to all, etc. Not to mention the suite of artsy-Nordic bedrooms upstairs designed by the Dutch agency Nicemakers (The Hoxton in Amsterdam was them as well) with high windows, drafting tables, tiled bathrooms and industrial light fixtures… Double rooms starting at €145 a night.