The Conrad Los Angeles is now open, with some surprises for design buffs

A new hotel in Downtown Los Angeles is a design maven's dream, offering not just the box seat on the marvellous form of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, but also the chance to settle within Gehry's vision.

The Conrad Los Angeles is designed by Canadian-American Gehry, arguably the world's most famous living architect, with mid-century classic interior design from Tara Bernerd & Partners, a firm behind the look of many of the finest hotels on the planet.

And if that's not design-led enough, the Conrad is part of The Grand LA, a new precinct anchored by the Walt Disney Concert Hall. But the form of the 305-room hotel, too, contributes to a strikingly audacious cityscape.

Design highlights begin in the lobby, with a bar made from 11,000-year-old polished and glazed molten lava and used throughout, Ceppo di Gre stone from the quarries of Lake Iseo in Lombardy. Works by upcoming and prominent local artists adorn walls.

Foodies will have fun, too. Overseeing the Conrad Los Angeles' culinary offerings is famed Spanish chef Jose Andres, credited with bringing the small plates concept to the US. He's also founder of a not-for-profit that supplies meals in disaster areas. Airy indoor-outdoor restaurant San Laurel on the 10th-floor has the best public views of the Disney concert hall and showcases Andres' flavours.

A further four drinking and dining venues feature plates to share and killer cocktails.

And in a city where a person's public persona is often its own work of art, there's a glamorous spa offering the latest in beauty technology and an almost obligatory 1500-square metre pool deck on which to see and be seen.

See Hilton.com