Hospitality Design - July 2014 - 73

perspectives

radical
innovation
in hospitality award

competition

By Kathleen Kervin

that helps to increase property values and
contributes to raising the overall quality of life
in urban centers across the globe," says Simon
Turner, president of global development at
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, who helped narrow
entries down to two finalists with fellow judges
Wing Chao, founding principal, Wing T. Chao
Architect; John Hardy, president and CEO,
the John Hardy Group; Michael Medzigian,
chairman and managing partner, Watermark
Capital Partners; Jena Thornton, managing
director, Eagle Rock Ventures; and James Woods,
president and COO, The Bowls.
And of the second selected finalist, Hotel
2020, Medzigian says: "This is the first time
we've ever seen 3D-printing technology applied
in the hospitality industry to increase the impact
of design on guests by taking their different
emotional states into account. Such disruptive
innovation is the essence of the competition."
"Radical Innovation is into its eighth year
of calling for development concepts that can
push the envelope of the hotel industry," notes

PUSHING
BOUNDARIES

This year's concepts aim to improve
the human experience

"We want the winning hotels to be a refuge from
other hotels," quipped Claude Amar, president of
the John Hardy Group International, referencing
George Bernard Shaw as he opened the Global
Allies-sponsored session that would determine
the winner of the 2014 Hospitality Design/John
Hardy Group Radical Innovation in Hospitality
Award during this year's Hospitality Design
Exposition & Conference (HD Expo) in May
in Las Vegas. In fact, the Green Air Hotel, the
winner of the award and $10,000 in seed money
for the project's development, is more than just a
refuge for travelers-it's good for the environment
and a boost for hotels in desperate need of
an update.
"A solution as impactful as [this hotel]
could set the standard for the industry-a
hotel renovation approach that not only helps
to revamp and refresh older hotels, but one

Amar. "This year, we received nearly 100 entries
from 28 different countries, and narrowed it
down to two finalists-one that is a solution to a
widespread problem and the other that rethinks
the application a current phenomenon."
The competition's format had a twist this
year, with jury members splitting into teams of
three, each team assigned to a finalist concept
to help prepare the concept's designer to present
their case to the opposing jury members and a
live audience-who ultimately had the final say-
during the HD Expo session.
The winners are:

Grand Prize: Green Air Hotel
Designer: Lip Chiong, Studio Twist
Jury Team: Hardy, Turner, and Woods
"In China, we really yearn for a breath of fresh
air. How often does a hotel get to help the
environment?" asks Lip Chiong, founder of
Beijing-based Studio Twist. "Chinese cities have
been suffering from the worst air pollution in

1+2. Renderings of
the Green Air Hotel,
which uses plants to
filter polluted air and
replenish oxygen to the
indoor environment.

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