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Mosaica spectrum of hospitality
This recently announced move changes the practice that has been in place since early 2009, following inconsistencies and poor service that have been frustrating to LEED project teams.
All I can say to this is, "It's about time!"
GBCI was spun off from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2008 to run the LEED certification process, as well as the accreditation of LEED professionals. In turn, GBCI hired outside "Certification Bodies," or CBs, to perform the LEED reviews, while it managed the overall process. Now, GBCI is taking over those reviews directly.
Certification for our Bardessono project stretched out over a year, and we hit a few snags with the review team. We now know that our review team was a CB, or Certification Body, which may explain some of the issues we ran into. Clarifications, email arguments, reissuing documents that were apparently misplaced by the review team … all these led to a lot of frustration and delays. Our LEED consultant/administrator had to write and call several times to find out exactly where we were in the process. In the end, we earned Platinum certification for our project and for our client; but, hopefully, the process will be less arduous in the future.
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Investigating the locale for a potential project, I visited the Maruekatayawan Palace, constructed in 1923 by His Majesty King Rama VI, in Hua Hin, Thailand.
A stunning building ... more than a building … a guided perambulation through a tropical garden, a careful selection of vistas, a cool sea breeze on a heavy afternoon.
Envisaged by a King as a place to 'fully relax, in great comfort', realised by a travelling Italian architect, constructed by local craftsmen – the parallels with our current design process struck me.
Recyclable, minimal, prefabricated materials … a refined and modern response to a climate and an ideal.
There is so much to inspire our contemporary design of 'places to relax' through continuity with times passed.
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Raj Chandnani, Director of Strategy, and Rhonda Rasmussen, Vice President and Director of Interior Design, on the Green Day panel.
Photo by Robin Clewley |
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Things are bigger in China, as you can see. As part of our project introduction, we toured many locations in the new city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia. The goal was to see the icons and culture of the region that we could incorporate into the story of the new hotel project.
Here vice president Bill Reed stands in the foreground of one of four magnificently large scale sculptures that pay homage to the great Genghis Khan.
Amazing attention to details can be seen on the faces of each of the 50 warriors as part of this sculpture.
The wonderful world of Ordos! Sometimes on trips we forget where we are. One location looks like the last after weeks on the road. But, not on this trip. One morning before being picked up for our meetings, Bill and I took a stroll around the cultural center of the new city of Ordos. We found ourselves on what just happened to be a yellow brick road. This took us to a long landscape plaza reminiscent of our own National Mall in Washington DC.
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Luxury hospitality has been hit harder by the worldwide financial disruption than any other segments of the hotel business. According to Mark Lomanno of STR, it may rebound the quickest, but it has the farthest to go.
While all indications are that affluent travelers will indeed return, what they will be hoping to find in the hotels and resorts they visit will have morphed in a number of subtle ways. Shifting perceptions about luxury will account for changes that we are already seeing in high-end hospitality design.
The changing nature of luxury
To the extent that conspicuous consumption and ostentatious décor might be considered bad form in a global recession -- where so many people and businesses have been hard hit -- design aesthetics will be tamped down in new and renovated properties, thereby changing the look and reconsidering the definition of luxury.
While luxury conjures images of excess and indulgence, Isadore Sharp, founder, chairman and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, views it as something that goes deeper than aesthetics: "For our guests and clients, luxury is about making the most of their precious time. It's about feeling welcomed and recognized. It's about not having to worry about a thing."
Conscientious consumption
Among affluent travelers, there seems to be a general self consciousness about the appearance of over-indulgence and a desire to feel vindicated in some way. Sonu Shivdasani, CEO of Six Senses, identifies the shift as "a move away from conspicuous consumption to conscientious consumption."
In other words, bling has blung. When it comes to luxury hotel design in 2010 and beyond, expect to see less flash and more substance; comfort over coolness; friendliness over pretentiousness.
Back to basics
Though clearly a five-star brand, St. Regis recently went through the conversion of a property in Princeville, on the island of Kauai, that involved removing tons of polished marble, ornate railings and chandeliers, European themed furniture and artwork, and gilded Corinthian columns. Designers repositioned the Hawaii property to reflect its locale through the use of indigenous materials, paintings and sculpture by local artists, and custom-designed carpets and furnishings with a residential feel that exude warmth and hospitality.
In 2010 and beyond, polished brass and shiny chrome will be out. Natural stone and salvaged wood will be in. Recycled materials and accessories will enhance the guest experience and give a property a unique story to tell.
Simplicity and sustainability will be the key drivers for success.
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Here is a behind-the-scenes glance into how we won the first-ever USGBC Sustainable Suite design competition.
17 July 2009: WATG officially kicked off its collaboration with innovation firm IDEO with a fresh look at the hotel guest experience. The team began its research by staying one night in different hotels and observing the human behavior of other guests within the public spaces as well as their own behavior as they interacted with and utilized the guestrooms. IDEO sent each team member a booklet in advance to gather and organize their findings.
Our team was challenged to switch gears; instead of looking solely at the design, for which WATG is well known, we were becoming modern-day anthropologists of the hotel experience.
We asked ourselves questions like, "How do we redefine luxury?" and "How do we create a sustainable suite without compromising the luxury experience?"
18 July 2009: The brainstorming day with the IDEO team was packed with innovative collaboration sessions that involved more Post-its (recycled of course) than you can imagine. The creativity was literally glued to the walls, and by the end of the day it was branded into our memories. Thoughts of sustainable systems, green fabrics, cradle-to-cradle (regenerative) design, water efficiency and so much more were streaming through our minds.
We set our sights on five areas of the guest experience:
• arrival, which starts from the moment the guests book a room to the minute they walk into their new home away from home;
• dining and entertainment options, which take the guest through the hotel’s dining options and in-room entertainment;
• bathing, which introduces the guest not only to the water-efficient features in the room but also touches on the wellness aspect built into the outdoor experience;
• exploration, as the guest encounters his or her new surroundings and community (as well as what takes place in the room while the guest is away, such as how the room is refreshed and what types of materials are used in the room);
• sleeping, which ushers the guest into a relaxing state with sustainable bed linens and custom pre-set lighting and temperature.
3 August 2009: With just 4 weeks to design, specify and put together a killer presentation, the team began calling vendors for the latest sustainable products, researching innovative systems for water and energy efficiency, drawing up floor plans, reading the entry rules over and over to make sure we didn’t miss a beat.
The WATG team -- Rashana Zaklit, Grace Machado, Catie Liuzzi, Shaun Hannah, Rhonda Rasmussen, Raj Chandnani, Larry Rocha and myself -- worked closely through those four weeks. In arriving at a solution for the design and sustainable specifications, we found vendors willing to donate all the materials that would be used in the room; we sought out the best systems and made sure we were gaining as many LEED points as possible; and we put together a knock-your-socks-off presentation.
31 August 2009: Based on the competition guidelines, the team assumed the deadline for submission was at 11:59PM EST, but when that time came and passed, we decided the deadline was now 11:59PM with no time zone in mind (thanks to Hawaii for the extra hours).
As our fearless leader Rhonda hobbled back and forth from her office with a broken foot (project war wound) to see how we were doing, Rashana, Grace and Catie hustled to get the specification package together after a mishap with the editing software resulted in them having to start all over. Raj reviewed and edited, reviewed and edited, reviewed and edited the project narrative while assisting me in putting the final touches on the design presentation boards. Larry became a cheerleader and overall extra set of hands in the late hours, taking on any task that we needed -- no matter how small or large -- and entertaining us with his magic tricks.
At 11:45PM we hit "send" on the last piece of material that needed to be posted. We wrote a final email to the team at IDEO with an update and the final submission. Then, like every great team, we walked out of the building as one unified front, confident that we had done the very best job we could and proud to have worked with every individual on the long journey to the end.
1 October 2009: Out of a pool of 65 entries from some of the top design firms in the world (several submitted multiple submissions), we were the winners! We were asked to keep the fantastic news a secret until the USGBC had made an official announcement to the media. But once it did, we could finally celebrate this great accomplishment that WATG can add to its legacy of innovative design.
A special thanks to all those who encouraged and helped us along the way with creative input and inspiring words.
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Several weeks ago, I sat on a panel at the 2009 ARDA Convention in Orlando to discuss sustainable design. The session was titled Sustainable Design While Sustaining Your Bottom Line, and one of its educational overlays was to discuss sustainable design in the context of the current economic market.
It was a balanced panel that covered design and strategies as well as LEED and the U.S. Green Building Council. The first part of my message covered what sustainable design is, what its drivers are, and some of the challenges. The second part covered design strategies and what we need to move forward to include sustainability on our projects. I spoke about the need for having a green vision through return on investment lenses, and about the need to think long term rather than first cost and the need to emphasize what you will get in return.
However, the deeper message I was trying to get across is the need for a 'new map'...a paradigm shift…a change in thinking about how we view sustainability. That shift happened for me awhile back while exploring an interest I had in systems thinking, where interconnectedness and relationships in a system demonstrate how small changes can have big impacts. It was then driven deeper when I had children and the focus of intergenerational thinking came into view. It became suddenly apparent that the choices this generation makes today have an impact on future generations.
In my panel presentation I used an often quoted piece of wisdom from Einstein: "Problems cannot be solved with the same awareness that created them." Looking at something familiar from a different vantage point can lead to insight and change. And change brings about adaptation and opportunities for growth. The current market is bearing witness to this now as businesses are having to adapt and look for opportunities for growth in an effort to sustain their livelihood. Their shift in thinking will hopefully incorporate sustainability into the evolution of their newly adapted business models. As another Earth Day comes into the forefront of people’s minds this week, I am hopeful that it sparks a change in thinking…whether for pragmatic reasons such as operational savings or consumer demand, or holistically deeper seated…like our impact on the future.
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Salli Morita and I visited Niu Valley Middle School for their annual career day. We shared with them the different aspects of architecture, master planning, interior design, and landscape architecture, and the various types of projects we do globally. They were impressed... “Have you really designed a house on the water?”
We then gave them their first design assignment as future architects: to design their dream home. We showed them how we begin every design with “bubble diagrams,” (bubbles representing rooms, illustrating room adjacencies and relationships) and let them go. They did well. After all, what 11-year-old wouldn't want a water slide between the bedroom and dining room?
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Photos by Tiffany Lee
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Here’s a little exchange I had with a banker at ALIS (Americas Lodging Investment Conference) recently in San Diego. We were among the 2,300 in attendance.
HJW: Why are you at this conference?
He: I just wanted to get a sense of how bad things are.
HJW: And?
He: Things are even worse than I thought.
HJW: So, are you making any loans for any projects at all?
He: No. If I make one bad loan in this economic climate, I’ll get fired. When times are good, we have more leeway.
HJW: Well, forgive me for saying so, but it seems you’re a big part of the problem. Bankers get a bailout and then are afraid to lend money. A deepening recession becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
He: You’re right.
Awkward but honest.
Seems to me that smart money would be going into viable projects now. These properties will open ahead of the competition, when the economy inevitably rebounds. Any brave bankers out there?
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I'm speaking this month at a hospitality conference in San Diego - ALIS (Americas Lodging Investment Summit) – on a panel entitled, Design as a Differentiator. The subtitle is: "Why do some hotels outperform others? Because catering to the lifestyle of your customer matters." Bad copywriting, I'd say. Why even bother to show up at that session, when you've already got your answer?
Taking for granted that design can be a differentiator, and assuming that catering to customers' lifestyles can be achieved through design, what are the drivers?
Today's travelers are looking for four things: a connection with people and places; physical and psychological comfort; a greater choice of guestrooms and amenities; and convenience. And they want to feel that they are getting these things at a great value. Owners, operators, and developers who understand the public's changing demands stand the best chance of capturing the lion's share of business in this competitive environment.
Successful destinations mirror co-existing desires of their guests - providing settings for privacy as well as for connection. Choices for social interaction abound. Wireless Internet access is offered in lobbies not just in guestrooms and business centers. Lobbies are being outfitted as casual living rooms. At night, pools are being transformed into al fresco nightclubs. The numbers demonstrate that people are leaving their rooms, even when they don't have to. They are using fitness facilities, spas, and restaurants and lounges on the property.
As a counterpoint, guests sometimes want to cocoon themselves in an insulated, private world; and guestrooms and bathrooms are growing in size as a result. In the luxury market, bathrooms are approaching 50% of the square footage of guestrooms. Hoteliers are providing more luxurious amenities and more sophisticated technology for guests. They are also waking up to the fact that 85% of Americans consider themselves environmentally conscious, so more and more hotels are going green by design.
In today's uncertain economic times, traveling professionals feel like they have to stay in touch, even when on holiday. In a survey of 5,000 executives, four out of five confessed they end up working during their vacations. Others are shortening their leisure travel getaways. Those who are choosing not to forego the family vacation are finding that children and teenagers can wield veto power over destination choices.
To appeal to kids, the emphasis is on interactive "experiential" programs. To accommodate the whole family, more connecting rooms are being designed into resorts. At luxury properties, the trend is toward two-bedroom villas, so kids and their parents can both enjoy "togethering" without sacrificing privacy or a sense of space.
Today's resort guests want the feeling of comfort and security they left at home. In fact, home, comfort, and security are paramount concepts in current hospitality design. Post 9/11 – and with every subsequent terrorist attack as a rem
inder – safety is on the minds of international travelers. The nature of hotels is to be open and welcoming; the design challenge is to help hoteliers and their guests feel safe and secure without turning their properties into fortresses.
The desire for convenience starts with having the right location and then extends to making every guest interaction with the property an easy, expedient and positive experience. Convenience is often taken for granted and, therefore, more apparent when it is absent - noticed through feelings of frustration, annoyance and aggravation when things don’t function as smoothly as they should.
Differentiation by design is much more about substance than style. Delivering enduring quality, functionality and impact in hotels and resorts is the over-arching goal. We and our clients need to take a long-term view of their investments, focusing on trends rather than trendiness. If we do our job well, our designs will be both timely and timeless... and sustainable in the broadest sense of the word.
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