In 2009, the Dolder Grand celebrates its first birthday following a four-year remodelling by Foster+Partners. Photographers from the Zurich studio nave, Nadja Athanasiou, Michael BA1/4hler and Peter LA1/4em, have documented the entire project throughout every stage of the refurbishment, charting the scope of the hotel's metamorphosis. The resulting narrative in pictures and words is not simply a linear documentation, but a rich and complex tapestry in which text and image are interwoven with a lyricism that brings the architecture to life on the pages of the book. Journalist Judith Wyder complements the photographs with anecdotes and facts that give a fascinating and many-facetted insight. Dutch novelist Cees Nooteboom has contributed an essay in which he describes the hotel as a microcosm and a home away from home, musing on how guests tend to take possession of the hotels they stay in.
