Guests stepping into the entrance foyer of the new Bulgari Hotel in Rome are greeted by a 2,000-year-old statue of the emperor Augustus. He could even be described as its presiding spirit—it was Augustus who famously claimed to have found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. For the hotel, ACPV Architects took a brick-and-travertine office building facing his mausoleum on Piazza Augusto Imperatore and infused it with rich color, materials of imperial splendor, countless examples of exquisite craftsmanship, furnishings by the reigning greats of modern Italian design, and motifs derived from Bulgari’s main business as a high-end jeweler. Somehow it all comes together in an abstract and sensuous evocation of the proudly Roman brand, and of its home city.

The hotel (1), shown behind the mausoleum, includes a roof terrace (2). Photos courtesy of Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, click to enlarge.