Lifestyle Hotels: Commercial Interior Design Makes a Bold Statement
by Wendy Croixwendy.croix@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
Interior design school students who hope for careers in hospitality design should take heart from the success of lifestyle hotels. When a designer of Armani's stature signs on to the movement (his Armani Hotels & Resorts will debut in Milan, Dubai, and Marrakech), you can be sure that this branch of commercial interior design has turned red hot.
Commercial Interior Design Goes Global
If you're an interior design school student and travel attracts you, the world offers commercial interior design opportunities. The lifestyle hotel movement has caught on world wide. London's Trafalgar offers that "home-from-home" experience that business and recreational travelers both prize. Equally devoted to unique interior design and quality service, Spain-based Hospes Hotels & Moments plans several lifestyle hotel projects in Spain as well as Budapest, Prague, and Stockholm. Because each hotel is unique, commercial interior designers don't get stuck replicating a trademark design theme in each commercial property. Instead, lifestyle hotels as far-flung as Africa, India, Bangkok, and Vienna all share one commercial interior design principle: signature uniqueness.Signature Interior Design--School Yourself in Your Own Backyard
While you're still in interior design school--or if you're considering a career in commercial interior design--check out the lifestyle hotels in your area for design inspiration. Interior designer Joanne Perlman, of Jo Fusion Inc., chooses richness and sparkle to give the Hotel Angelino in L.A. its signature look. The chocolate brown color scheme blends with teak furnishings and snakeskin wall coverings. The corridors boast Swarovski crystals, the lobby bathroom shines with glass wallpaper, and smoky topaz pendants hover over the reception area. So, you don't have to go as far as the Far East to study these design-driven commercial projects. A 13% rise in lifestyle hotel properties in the last two years insures that most major cities now have a design-driven hotel stealing business from its cookie-cutter cousins--and that's great news for a designer like you.Sources
"Building Momentum," by Karyn Strauss and Derek Gale. Hotels 40.4 (Apr 2006).
"Heading South." Hospitality Design 28.1 (Jan/Feb 2006).
"Hospes Aims At Art In Architecture, Service." Hotels 40.1 (Jan 2006).
"Small is beautiful," by David Churchill. Business Travel World (Mar 2006).
About the Author
Wendy Croix, Ph.D. is a freelance writer, cultural critic and university professor who has guided hundreds of students toward the careers of their dreams.
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