Budget optimisation and biophilic design will be among the key items under discussion at this year’s Design Inn Symposium, taking place on Tuesday April 30 at SkyCity Adelaide.
With high costs continuing to impact hotel design and construction, Design Inn panelists will explore how to get the best results from their projects – from new builds to refurbishments.
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Speaking exclusively to HM ahead of his interview at the conference on Tuesday, Accor’s Global Chief Design, Technical Services and Innovation for PME, Damien Perrot, said creativity should not be limited by costs.
“Creativity and innovative design don’t mean increasing the costs, but finding solutions that ensure, or even increase, the performance,” Perrot said, pointing to hybridisation as a key trend in optimising space to enhance the guest experience.
“One of the key evolutions in hotel design is moving from spaces by function to creating different atmospheres within one space, giving freedom to guests to choose the best place to do what they want to do – be it relaxing, eating, connecting with people, depending on their mood and the people they meet.
“Hybridisation is a consequence of how people live today, this is not only for the lobby/bar but creating a vertical and horizontal porosity and augment the stay or the experience with various services.”
In Tuesday’s Breakfast Masterclass, presented by Shape, costs will also be at the forefront of the discussion.
Salter Brothers’ Strategic Projects Director, Marie Colangelo, will be joined by the design and construction leaders behind the major transformation of 11 properties to Accor hotels, to share how outside-the-box thinking maximised returns.
Design for people and planet
Design for the wellbeing of people and planet will be another key focus in this year’s conference.
Award-winning architect, Callie van der Merwe will unpack the concept of “EnviroHacking” – a term coined by COOOP Pty Ltd, the design agency co-founded by van der Merwe.
EnviroHacking centres around an evidence-based design approach informed by empirical data to tailor-build environments that elicit positive human responses.
In this talk, Callie will share some architectural examples that best illustrate these universal biases influenced in part by our childhood memories, but to a much bigger extent, our evolutionary memories.
Perrot will also share how Accor is integrating biophilic design in its midscale and economy brands.
“Biophilic design is definitely not restricted to luxe or premium brands,” he told HM.
“It is a design direction we use for our economy and midscale brands because it is a solution to enhance the guest experience, increase wellbeing, optimise energy consumption, and reduce carbon footprint.”
Following the recent Multi-Site Certification of Pan Pacific Hotels Group’s (PPHG) eight Singapore properties by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), the group’s Senior Vice President Head of Operations, Craig Bond, will join a panel of industry experts, led by Fender Katsalidis Principal, Angela Biddle, to explore the commercial benefit of ESG.