More than 25 years after opening its gilded doors, Dubai’s most iconic hotel, Jumeirah Burj Al Ara b , has closed for restoration works. During the planned 18-month closure, the hotel’s distinctive interiors will be enhanced, preserved, and upgraded by celebrated French interior architect Tristan Auer, who’s reimagined his fair share of hotel greats, from the Carlton Cannes to Paris’s Hôtel de Crillon . But how, exactly, do you reinterpret an icon? “It’s kind of a science,” he tells me on a morning call from his Paris studio. “The Burj Al Arab is one of the most well-known, important, and recognized hotels in the world. As a designer, you have to be respectful—to watch, listen, and see how people behave in this hotel. French interior architect Tristan Auer Courtesy Jumeirah “The vision of His Highness with the original design was just incredible. It’s the taste of Dubai and the vision of a man, and for that, I cannot damage it.…