flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Robots. 70’s Retro. Biophilia. Co-Living Spaces. Two leading architectural firms single out 18 trends for hospitality this year.

Hotel Facilities

Robots. 70’s Retro. Biophilia. Co-Living Spaces. Two leading architectural firms single out 18 trends for hospitality this year.

HKS and HBA even see a demand for hotels catering to “agritourism.” 


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | March 9, 2017

The 18-story, 350-room Hotel Indigo in downtown Los Angeles, which opens in June, will feature a grand lobby space with a playful design aesthetic that harkens back to the city's storied past, with references to a budding movie industry and the 1920s. Hirsch Bedner Associates designed the hotel. Image: Hotel Indigo 

Imagine a hotel whose design gives the extreme sports enthusiast an outlet to exercise his or her inner daredevil. Or a resort that caters to patients recovering from medical procedures. Or one whose graphics and murals aspire to be works of art.

These are some of 18 hot trends in hospitality design that two leading architectural firms—Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) and HKS Hospitality Group—have identified for 2017.

The firms divide their lists into two sections, each with nine trends. Hot architectural design trends include:

--Extreme Sports Retreats

--Gadget-free guest rooms

--Automation taking over some hotel staff work

--Greater use of LEDs to create decorative and mood effects

--Smaller guest rooms but larger gathering spaces

--Co-living spaces where groups can stay near each other

--Dual branding

--Curated leisure farming that allows guests to have greater input into what they eat and drink

--Wellness resorts where guests recoup from surgery, transfusions, and other medical treatments.

The interior design trends the firms call out include:

--Candy colors

--A return to 1970s-era kitsch

--The use of super graphics and murals

--An emphasis on wellness and biophilia

--Eclectic, playful, and youthful design

--Craft design

--Rooms within rooms that create intimacy

--A return to a midcentury aesthetic

--Live-work spaces

HBA and HKS use examples of their own recent work to illustrate some of these trends. For example, the HKS-designed Hyatt House/Hyatt Place project in San Francisco explores a hybrid model that blends extended stay with full-service. The 400-key hotel—which follows dual-branded Hyatts in Denver and Charlotte—includes two restaurants, a rooftop outdoor movie theater, and a bar-lounge that can accommodate 400 guests.

The budding “agritourist” might feel right at home at HKS’ Surf Beach Resort in Half Moon Bay near San Francisco, which is part of an existing farmland and a farm stand that will become a permanent part of the resort’s guest program.

Color and art are enlivening hotels, the firms contend. The recently opened HBA project, Aloft Guangzhou in China, features an engaging color palette filled with textured carpets and accented furniture. W Bellevue in Seattle, which opens in June, will include murals created by local street artists. And super graphics will come into play at the new Texas Live, the first hotel in Arlington, Texas, between the mammoth AT&T Stadium and the Texas Rangers’ stadium.

Biophilia and wellness are important vibes in HBA’s Four Seasons Kyoto in Japan, where guests are greeted by a bamboo forest that leads to a Japanese garden sanctuary. This hotel’s design was planned around the 800-year-old Ikeniwa Pond.

Authenticity is the key goal in the trend toward craft design. For the W Nashville residences, HKS’ design features layers of craft design as intricate, embroidered fabric pieces with sequins evoke the elaborate performance outfits of country legends like Patsy Cline, Elvis and Dolly Parton and are being used as art pieces that nod subtly to Nashville’s musical heritage. This hotel also features a range of jewel tones and an unusual mix of furniture that includes the midcentury reference and goes into ‘70s lounge with some industrial touches.

Related Stories

| Jul 15, 2014

Michael Graves talks with Washington Post about new design eye from life in a wheelchair

Celebrated American architect Michael Graves sits with the Washington Post to talk about how being on a wheelchair changed the way he focuses on design.

| Jul 14, 2014

Meet the bamboo-tent hotel that can grow

Beijing-based design cooperative Penda designed a bamboo hotel that can easily expand vertically or horizontally.

| Jul 10, 2014

BioSkin 'vertical sprinkler' named top technical innovation in high-rise design

BioSkin, a system of water-filled ceramic pipes that cools the exterior surface of buildings and their surrounding micro-climates, has won the 2014 Tall Building Innovation Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

| Jul 7, 2014

7 emerging design trends in brick buildings

From wild architectural shapes to unique color blends and pattern arrangements, these projects demonstrate the design possibilities of brick. 

| Jul 7, 2014

A climate-controlled city is Dubai's newest colossal project

To add to Dubai's already impressive portfolio of world's tallest tower and world's largest natural flower garden, Dubai Holding has plans to build the world's largest climate-controlled city.

| Jul 1, 2014

Sochi's 'kinetic façade' may steal the show at the Winter Olympics

The temporary pavilion for Russian telecom operator MegaFon will be wrapped with a massive digital "pin screen" that will morph into the shape of any face.

| Jun 30, 2014

Research finds continued growth of design-build throughout United States

New research findings indicate that for the first time more than half of projects above $10 million are being completed through design-build project delivery. 

| Jun 25, 2014

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Spring House, Cincinnati’s Union Terminal among 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2014

The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its annual list of 11 Most Endangered Historical Sites in the United States for 2014.

| Jun 20, 2014

Sterling Bay pulled on board for Chicago Old Main Post Office project

Sterling Bay Cos. and Bill Davies' International Property Developers North America partner up for a $500 million restoration of Chicago's Old Main Post Office

| Jun 19, 2014

First look: JDS Architects' roller-coaster-like design for Istanbul waterfront development

The development's wavy and groovy design promises unobstructed views of the Marmara Sea for every unit.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



3D Printing

3D-printed construction milestones take shape in Tennessee and Texas

Two notable 3D-printed projects mark milestones in the new construction technique of “printing” structures with specialized concrete. In Athens, Tennessee, Walmart hired Alquist 3D to build a 20-foot-high store expansion, one of the largest freestanding 3D-printed commercial concrete structures in the U.S. In Marfa, Texas, the world’s first 3D-printed hotel is under construction at an existing hotel and campground site.


halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021