Art Hotels · Six hotels

the moving part: A funicular climbs from the shore of Lake Lucerne to the resort above, and a lift is cut into the rock face further along the ridge. Both belong to the place rather than to a town, and both work the same slope in opposite manners: one on rails, one straight up inside stone.

what it joins: It joins the water to the ridge. At the bottom there is a landing, a small station and the lake; at the top there is a level shelf with buildings on it and open air on three sides of them. The funicular makes those two heights behave as one address.

what rides on it: People ride up and down with coats over their arms. Deliveries, cases, linen and kitchen supplies ride the same track, because a resort on a ridge is supplied from below. The rock lift carries walkers between the ridge and a point above the water.

what never moves: The rail does not move. It stays in the cut made for it, holding the same line up the slope, and the rock passage keeps its shaft. The lake beneath keeps its level and its shore.

the moving part: Rails run from the boat landing on Lake Brienz up to the hotel terrace, and a car has worked that slope since the hotel was young. The line is short, steep and plainly built, and it is the hotel's own arrangement rather than part of any public network at all.

what it joins: It joins the landing stage at the water to the terrace at the top, where the building stands with the falls beside it. Below there is the lake and a wooden pier; above there is a level lawn and a long facade. The car ties the two together without a road between them.

what rides on it: Passengers ride with luggage stacked at their feet. Cases, food, laundry and whatever the kitchen needs ride the same car, since the terrace has no other easy way of being reached from the water. Staff ride it as often as guests do.

what never moves: The falls beside the line do not stop, and the track does not shift. Its rails keep the same angle, the landing keeps its post, and the terrace above stays where the builders cut it.

the moving part: Above Davos, the hotel is reached by a cable-drawn carriage that climbs from the town to the slope where the building stands. In winter that carriage is the link the house depends on, since the way up lies under snow and the hotel sits well above the streets below.

what it joins: It joins the town below to a shelf on the mountainside. Down there are shops, houses and a valley floor; up here there is one large building, a garden cut into the slope and a great deal of open sky. The line holds those two levels together through the winter.

what rides on it: Guests ride up with bags. Food, fuel, linen and building materials ride the same way, because a house on a slope is supplied from the valley under it. Skis and sledges go up with people and come down again by other means.

what never moves: The building does not move. It keeps the position it was given when it was a sanatorium, facing the same way across the valley, and the garden terraces stay cut where they were cut.

the moving part: Water separates this hotel from the rest of Venice, and the hotel's own launch crosses it all day. The boat leaves a quay in the city, runs across to the landing on Giudecca, and then goes back again. It is crewed, moored and maintained by the house that uses it.

what it joins: It joins the stone edge of the city to a garden wall on the far side of the water. On one side there are crowds, bridges and paving; on the other there is a wall, a gate and quiet ground behind it. Only the crossing puts those two things together.

what rides on it: Guests ride with their luggage stacked on the deck. Food from the market, laundry, flowers and staff arriving for work ride the same hull, because everything reaching this address arrives on water. Nothing at all is wheeled in over land.

what never moves: The lagoon keeps its level and the island keeps its place. The garden wall stands where it stood, the landing steps stay where they are, and the city on the far side stays exactly as far away.

the moving part: Below the house the ground drops to the Thames, and the estate keeps its own landing there with boats tied to it. Craft go out onto the river and come back to the same stretch of bank. The descent to the water is part of the arrangement, and it belongs to the estate itself.

what it joins: It joins a house standing high above the valley to a river reach at the bottom of its own ground. Up there are lawns and a long front; down there are water, willow and a wooden landing. Between them the slope is wooded, and the boats make the lower level usable.

what rides on it: People ride out on the water for an hour and come back. Cushions, blankets and baskets ride with them. The boats themselves are moved, cleaned and tied up again by estate staff, who use the same steps as everybody else does.

what never moves: The river does not leave its bed and the house does not leave its terrace. The landing stays where the bank allows one, and the woodland between the two levels is kept as woodland.

the moving part: On Lake Como the hotel keeps a launch and a floating platform out on the water for it to come alongside. The boat leaves the shore, runs out to the pontoon or along the lake, and returns. Both the boat and the platform are the hotel's own equipment, kept and crewed by the house.

what it joins: It joins the shore front, where the building stands behind its gardens, to a point out on open water. From the pontoon the shore is a facade among trees; from the terrace the pontoon is a pale shape on the lake. The launch makes each of them reachable from the other.

what rides on it: Guests ride out with towels and go into the water from the platform. Staff ride out with them and bring what is needed. The launch also carries people along the shore, so the lake is used as ground rather than as a view.

what never moves: The mountains across the water do not move, and the gardens hold their terraces. The building keeps its front to the lake, and the pontoon is returned each season to the same stretch of water.