In issue 42 of Artichoke we published an essay titled “The Future of Hotels.” Co-written by Bates Smart design director Jeff Copolov and associate director of interior design Jan Eastwood, the article listed ten key drivers that would shape future hotel design. It is three years since we published that article and many of the drivers noted in it, such as the environmental footprint, a point of difference and “hotels as home,” still resonate today.
But Copolov and Eastwood’s essay couldn’t have predicted the impact one particular disruptor would have on hotels: Airbnb. Valued at $25 billion (more than the 58-year-old Marriott chain), Airbnb proves that new platforms can quickly blindside a long-established industry. Airbnb has had extraordinary success, but arguably it fails to offer the design quality and consistency that hotels can.
At a recent Artichoke Night School session that discussed the value of hotel design (page 48), an audience member questioned the panel on Airbnb’s impact. The panel, made up of three hotel designers and a hotel manager, responded with optimism: it was an opportune time for design-minded hotels to work harder to provide guests with value for money in terms of their experience – including their design experience. The hotels in this issue certainly do this, albeit in different ways. The Old Clare Hotel in Sydney by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer gives guests a lesson in the history of the site through attentive design. Little National Hotel in Canberra by Redgen Mathieson pulls off affordable luxury for the business traveller. And ROOM by Antony Gormley in London is a monumental yet intimate inhabitable sculpture, a hotel experience unlike any other.
This issue also features the latest hospitality spaces, including Second Home by Brahman Perera and Jason M. Jones, Jimmy Grants Richmond by March Studio, and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal by Bates Smart; workplaces Paramount by The Office Space by Woods Bagot, and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne by Powell and Glenn; and marquees from the 2015 Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Hang up the “Do Not Disturb” sign and enjoy the issue.
