What’s the Big Idea?
Feb 11, 2009
By Rachel Long
A hotel fashioned from an oil rig. One that delivers a truly urban experience. Another that achieves complete energy independence. And a fourth that is literally for the birds. All of these concepts took honors in the second annual Radical Innovation in Hospitality Awards, sponsored by the John Hardy Group and Hospitality Design (HD) magazine.
The finalists were selected from more than 40 entrants by an industry jury of John Hardy, president/CEO, the John Hardy Group; Claude Amar, principal, the John Hardy Group; Michael Medzigian, founding partner, Watermark Capital Partners; Pamela Parsons, senior vice president design and construction, Host Hotels & Resorts; Simon Turner, president, global development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; and James Woods, principal, Keen Partners, LLC.
First prize, which included $10,000 in addition to bragging rights, was ultimately voted on by Hospitality Design Boutique Exposition & Conference (HD Boutique) attendees in Miami and went to Morris Architects for Oil Rig Platform Resort & Spa. Other finalist concepts included e | merse by WATG; the Wind Tower by Richard Moreta Architecture and MRA Design; Extreme Birding by Morris Architects; and a special prize, Pagoda by Danielle Meyer, a student (at the time) at the Art Institute of Colorado (she is now at Denver-based firm Box Studios).
John Hardy, who co-founded the competition in 2007 with Michelle Finn, vice president of Hospitality Design Group, praised the entrants for their creativity and futuristic concepts. “Last year’s competition was great, and this was a step forward. More people understand what we are trying to accomplish. One of our judges, Simon Turner, summed it up by saying, ‘It’s really similar to what you would see in a fashion show in Paris. You might not buy that dress on the runway, but it affects what happens down the line.’”
The Rig Hotel
The quantity of abandoned rigs (4,000 to be decommissioned within the next century off U.S. shores) begs ideas for reinvention. Consequently, the Houston office of Morris Architects set out to create a self-sufficient, eco-friendly, high-end hotel experience in its own backyard—the Gulf of Mexico.
“Think of the sheer numbers. What do you do with this dead technology? That’s the sustainable proposition,” says Douglas Oliver, the firm’s director of design. Reclaiming rigs eliminates razing them (current practice), and retains their lush aquatic habitats (coral and sea life averaging 20,000 fish per rig). As hotels, they offer a rare opportunity to go beyond historic form. “Thematics don’t have to express an architectural past, but can embrace new technologies,” he says.
“The Rig is much like the ICEHOTEL. It’s that kind of unique experience. We were trying to create a hospitality experience that is unique and fully rounded, and interesting enough that people are interested in doing it. The work with the Rig is not to make it a one-liner, but to prove it as a serious proposition—really investigating it,” Oliver says. That included the use of alternative energy sources, and novel design around a core of water, which allows light to penetrate the rig’s center.
As for entering the competition (and placing two in the top four), Oliver recounts, “We were just slammed because of project commitments. The majority of this was on our own time. It gave us a really good way to stretch. It was a benefit to our mainstream hospitality work that we could work conceptually at this level.”
What led to thinking differently? According to Oliver, “When you really use sustainability as a catalyst, as part of the DNA of the architecture, it leads to innovation.”
e | merse
Forget themed restaurants, exotic spas, and luxurious pools. The radical innovation team from WATG acknowledges that what works for traditional guests may not always entice Generation X and Y travelers. Enter e | merse Network, designed to deliver an authentic urban experience by meshing a hotel with its surroundings.
According to Matt Page, designer at WATG, the idea emerged from a thinktank comprised of the firm’s Generation X and Y employees in the Irvine, California, office. The group explored their preferences in travel experiences to create the perfect hotel concept. “We wanted to experience a city by having the city become our hotel,” he says. Purposely limiting internal hotel amenities makes way for links to urban businesses, with interactive maps (thanks to personal GPS [global positioning system] technology) to help guests explore their site and activity preferences.
Using a guest profile, completed before arrival, the hotel can help travelers find local businesses, restaurants, and clubs to fit their needs; network with other guests; and provide feedback on places they’ve visited and activities they’ve experienced. All e | merse locations will be linked to allow users ease of transfer, and the brand can even facilitate baggage being moved from one location to another.
The multi-faceted nature of e | merse embraces several critical ideas, says Raj Chandnani, WATG vice president, strategy. Among them are urban renewal and revitalization, technology, and sustainable design and adaptive reuse in a scalable concept.
The Wind Tower
In what the architect and interior designer call “a new icon,” the Wind Tower aims to achieve energy independence (even adding to the grid), create eco diversity (in layered vegetation and water catch-basins), and contributing culturally (the building facade is a chromatic clock).
Three areas mattered most to Richard Moreta, principal of his Miami practice, for architecture: photovoltaics, aeolic energy, and water retention. His search for aeolic (or wind) efficiency hinged on the Venturi phenomenon, essentially the acceleration of a mass of air between two volumes. As a result, what was originally set to be two buildings became one, to take full advantage of the effect.
The Wind Tower’s aerodynamic lines promote catching rain; the south facade is dedicated to solar-energy absorption; an e-glass (e for emissivity) facade helps stop the penetration of ultra-violet and infrared rays, aiming to curb heat gain/loss.
John Naranjo of MRA Design in Miami, who collaborated with Moreta on the project, traces concept inspiration and building shape to a tropical flower. “We approached it like nature; it maintains life through absorbing sun, water, and wind,” he says. “Predominant is the wind. Physically, we wanted to create aspects that are seen working. Guests will feel good about the experience.”
Says Naranjo, “You cannot have technological and radical innovation without thinking of sustainability. It pays off, but it’s going to cost more up front. Economically, I think it’s going to be the future.”
Extreme Birding
With the tagline “It’s all about the view,” Extreme Birding promotes birdwatching as a concept that can be sensory and exciting—and perfect for anybody interested in a luxurious, natural retreat experience.
Morris Architects conjured two birding hotels, one on a coastal cliff in Alaska, the other in a forest canopy in Costa Rica, to test how a birding retreat translates for environmental extremes (the former cold and dry, the latter hot and humid). Viewports, patios, or treehouses offer supreme views; a “habitat merge” allows birds to circulate laterally and vertically throughout the hotels. Guests can track bird information and migratory patterns on their in-room, video touch-screen systems.
Morris Architects’ Oliver notes, “I like the subtlety of Extreme Birding. As a concept, it sneaks up on you. Something as passive as bird-watching, and almost banal, ends up being this exciting and engaging thing.”
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