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Over the course of 3000 years, one begins to accumulate a decent amount of baggage. If any place knows that, it's Jerusalem. One look around and it becomes clear that nowhere is so much history, ideology, emotion and other stuff just heaped on top of each other. So it may come as a refreshing surprise when patrons arrive at the brand-new Mamilla Hotel and are greeted with very un-Jerusalem levels of serenity.

The minimalist paradise in the heart of Jerusalem, recently added to the elite roster of those recongized by the Design Hotels website, is courtesy of world renowned architect Piero Lissoni, who hails from Italy but has been making frequent trips to Jerusalem to work with Moshe Safdie on designing this monumental hotel. But even if the hotel is as understated as any curio shop in the Arab souk is not, that does not mean Lissoni forgot where he was working.

"This is an international hotel, but it is completely born in Jerusalem and connected to Jerusalem," he recently told GoJerusalem.com. "It's impossible to put something in Jerusalem that is against Jerusalem."

To that end, Lissoni has left artifacts, things that scream Jerusalem, as part of the "spirituality" of the hotel, something he says is connected with the city. Take for instance the Jerusalem stone wall in each guest room. The stones, like the metal and woodwork in the building, are all pure, he says. "I walked through the Old City and there was incredible energy, good and bad, and incredible light," he said. "These were our keys for working in the town for a new project like the Mamilla Hotel - we are working with the energy of the town. We are working with some pure and very strong materials."

The hotel is planned to compete with a number of high-end lodging options already available in Jerusalem, specifically around the spot that the Mamilla Hotel occupies, like the King David, the David Citadel, and the planned Waldorf-Astoria. While Lissoni is making sure that nobody will mistake his hotel for one of the others, he insists he isn't trying to prop himself up while putting the rest of them down.

"We are not against them; we are different," he said.

Different is one way to put it. Aside from the aforementioned in-room accouterments and the ultra minimalist style, the hotel offers postcard-perfect views of the Old City and a lighting system that takes advantage of the location and the sun. In the rooms, a "magic" bathroom wall that frosts over when locked is gimmicky, but a highlight nonetheless. The common areas include a health and well-being spa, a synagogue and a rooftop lounge, among other spots. Plus you can't beat the location, literally sitting right on top of the new Alrov Mamilla Quarter mall.

For Lissoni, designing a hotel that contrasted Jerusalem while paying homage to it was easy.

"The old town has unbelievable noise," he said. "Noise for the noise, noise for the politics. It's absolutely very noisy. It was easy for me to design something in Jerusalem that was a little more silent. It's calm, it's familiar for some reason. This huge space is completely empty."

The projects of this hotel and the neighborhood it sits in, after all, are not alone in the broader context of Jerusalem's ongoing urban development, with the light rail system, the Bridge of Strings and the ever-expanding pedestrian mall of downtown continuing to make headlines. So as much as Jerusalem speaks to the past, Lissoni believes it is high time the city began to look toward the future.

"Jerusalem is one of the most beautiful towns in the world, but after 3000 years, it's time to think about modernity," he said. "I don't like to destroy, but you improve something day by day. We have to think from a totally humanistic point of view. It's time now to do something absolutely modern in Jerusalem. It's time. It's not enough to think Jerusalem is historical and everything has to be totally traditional. It can be modern."

Photo of Piero Lissoni courtesy of F. Huguier for Piero Lissoni.