Design & the City: Flickr Contest

An iconic Metro Sign, futuristic official buildings, the little details in a park bench… Design is all around us; in nature, in what we eat, what we wear, and where we go. In preparation for the re-launch of the Design Hotels™ website, we are inviting you to submit impressions of the design elements that make the 100 cities, where we have hotels, unique.

We will be collecting images in our flickr group, “Design and the City: The Design Hotels™ Photo Contest” through February 8, 2009. Simply scan the list of Design Hotels™ destinations below and upload your picture from one of these destinations with a label of where it is. The goal of the contest is for you to show us what design means to you and what it means to each of the destinations, so be creative!
Click here for the contest homepage!

Posted in Fashion, Technology, Retail, Hospitality & Travel, Architecture, Design & Art, Food & Beverage | No Comments »

Future Hotel Room, Part 2

In a more in-depth look at the Future Hotel room from an earlier post, the LAVA Architects— the firm who designed the Beijing Water Cube and the Michael Schumacher tower—and the work organization branch of the Fraunhofer Institute—who brought you the MP3 standard— have released some additional images and information about their look into the future. This Future Hotel Room belongs to a set of “a Kubrick movie full of monoliths and monkeys,” according to Gizmodo. The design is not the only innovative element of the It’s not just looks, however that make this room unique, apparently the room has been designed to “investigate the interfaces between architecture, technology and the human body.” For example, using LED lighting, the designers argue that the would be able to reduce jet-lag on guests. The room also includes an active comfort bed (read “bed with fancy vibrating apparatus“), an intelligent mirror, and a personal spa area.

Click here for more pictures.

Posted in Technology, Design & Art, Architecture | No Comments »

Brasilia, Revisited

Contrary to popular belief, neither Sao Paulo nor Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil.  The caplital is, in fact, Brasilia, located in the middle of the country.  Other than being the capital, Brasilia is known for its incredible futuristic architecture from Brazilian über-architect Oscar Niemeyer.  The space-age looking buildings are straight out of a science fiction movie, and have held legendary status since their original construction in the 1950´s.

Recently, one of the final buildings from the master plan, the Brazilian National Museum, was completed and hosted the 2nd Biennial of Brazilian Design.

In honor of this new building, and the biennial, I am posting some images of the future-city (remember the original buildings of the city were constructed in only  years).  For an interesting TIME article from 1958, click HERE.

Posted in Design & Art, Architecture | No Comments »

No Logo

For all of you former Sociology students (or any liberal arts college students or grads, for that matter) who read Naomi Klein´s No Logo, how about this for a turn of events…?  McDonalds recently opened their latest Tokyo outlet with (much to Naomi Klein´s chagrin I am sure) NO LOGO.  No corporate branding including golden arches, Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar, Happy Meals, or McMuffins are present anywhere in this McDonalds.  The only products served are the QP (Quarter Pounder) and the QPC (Quarter Pounder with Cheese) simply in red, white, and black packaging.  The storefront itself also utilizes a slick basic red, white, and black color scheme.

From an immediate retail standpoint, this obviously is not a great use of resources.  That being said, imagine what it will do for the QPC.  What McD´s is doing is really attempting to make an iconic product out of the QPC by wagering an entire restaurant investment on it, and I would say that they are doing a good job based on the feedback about crowds.  Additionally, with such a variety in the standard McDonald´s menu offerings, integrating a cohesive design element into the restaurant can be tricky.  With this concept, they are giving themselves the chance to match a singular design theme to one product which ultimately is successful.

We often see the “no logo” look for bars and clubs and even some restaurants.  It contributes to the “mystique” of a somewhere making all of its patrons feel a bit exclusive and in-the-know.  To quote the great American movie with Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn Swingers, “saying that you have been somewhere is sort of like bragging that you know how to find it!”.  I think that with the “undercover luxury” trends emerging, we will see a bottom-up adaptation of this theme with it potentially saturating the upper tiers of the hospitality industry.

What is your opinion?

Click here for official Japanese site.

0 Comments

Posted in Retail, Design & Art, Food & Beverage | No Comments »

Top Roof Bars in the world

The Times Online just published their list of top roof bars around the world.  Among their list include Design Hotel Members, Condesa in Mexico City, and Skye at the Unique in Sao Paulo.

It may be getting slightly colder with the fall approaching, but do not tell that to our friends south of the border.  While Mexico City enjoys a temperate Winter, Sao Paulo is just starting to heat up for the southern hemisphere´s summer months!

Posted in Hospitality & Travel, Design & Art, Architecture | No Comments »

Future Hotel Room

The Fraunhofer Society of Germany recently published their findings and predictions for the future of the hotel industry for both Germany and the world.

According to Business Week, its team of scientists and engineers have built a prototype in their 1,500 square meter “laboratory” in Duisberg, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. And it consigns carpeted box-rooms firmly to the past. Firstly the room itself is completely round. A centerpiece is a massive window, shaped like an over-sized ski mask, which by day gives hotel guests a view of the landscape, but at night transforms into a screen where films can be projected.

Changes also take place underfoot. Its carpet is lined with sensors which monitor the guest’s arrival and, without delay, heats the room to the required temperature. The bed simulates a light pendulum motion. “It feels as if you were being gently rocked from a seven meter long rope,” project leader Vanessa Borkmann said. “It’s like being in Nirvana.”

The creation may sounds like a futuristic gadgetry fest but, in reality, it responds to top end hotels worldwide which are already toying with conventions and standards when it comes to holiday accommodation. In Songjiang, China, guests can opt for underwater suites, minimalist rooms with a giant aquarium providing the walls. In the Swedish ice hotel, tourists relax in an igloo hotel which is permanently kept at five degrees. Beds are covered by animal pelts.

And such ventures have lifted the bar for German hotels—something which is all too clear to Klaus Scherer head of the Duisberg innovation center. “Here, hotel rooms are still an innovation-free zone,” he said.

I am not sure if I agree that Germany hotels are not driving innovation, just check out the East Hotel in Hamburg, or any other German Design Hotels members…

Click here for a slideshow from the Fraunhofer Society:

Posted in Technology, Design & Art, Architecture | No Comments »

Andreas Gursky and The Cocoon Club, Frankfurt

From today through December 24, the Matthew Marks Gallery in New York will be exhibiting the new work of German photographer, Andreas Gursky. Gursky is famous for having sold the most expensive photograph in history, 99 Cent II, Diptych, which sold for $3.3 million at Sothebys. The new exhibit explores the space of the world famous nightclub, The Cocoon Club , located in Frankfurt. The Cocoon Club is known for its resident DJ and club designer DJ, Sven Väth. According to the gallery website, “The club resembles a futuristic hive and two of the photographs on view depict nearly 1,000 people dancing. Two other photographs show the club emptied of its clientele, highlighting the unusual architecture. In one, the artist appears for the first time in a self-portrait with his son.”

Posted in Design & Art, Architecture | No Comments »

Political Designs

Design Hotels does not endorse any specific political ideology or candidate; however, we do promote exercising your right to vote and determine the fate of your city, county, state, or region!  With this in mind, we recently saw this design from Core 77 in anticipation of today’s US Presidential election.  The design brief was to re-imagine the traditional voting booth.  The resulting design entitled, “Vote with Style,” rewards voters with a paper leaf to stick on a blossoming “voting tree.”

Posted in Technology, Design & Art | No Comments »

Looking at the Future

With new technology being used for both business and pleasure, I wanted to showcase the developments to the traditional bathroom mirror that can touch on both needs. Many hotels and luxury homes have started using mirrors enhanced with televisions in order to spice up guests´ lives, however, Philips and lit studios have each taken this progree a step further.

lit Studios has created an interactive mirror that allows users to create custom and dynamic works of art through touch. Check out the video below for details:

Philips, on the other hand, has developed through their Homelab division a mirror that displays vital health statistics, traffic info, weather updates, and daily news through a computer CPU (also touch based interface)

Posted in Technology, Hospitality & Travel, Design & Art, Partner | No Comments »