Hospitality Design - August 2019 - 95

In the Graduate Eugene, a dramatic installation
of 135 vintage Nike posters line a lobby wall

The presidential suite at the Graduate Eugene
combines natural wood with textured patterns

The lobby at the Graduate Seattle
employs a 1930s Art Deco aesthetic

perfect fit for Alford, who took what he learned
from his time working at Universal Studios
and Kimpton Hotels and merged those lessons
into a concept that is at once nostalgic and
eclectic. The brand, he says, "rekindles those
feelings of camaraderie, of new experiences
and ideas" that comes with the wide-eyed
excitement of being an undergrad. He calls the
design strategy a "greatest hits radio station,"
using the local history of small college markets
to create playful, colorful guest experiences.
"We're writing a love letter to each one of these
communities," Alford says, "and you can't
plagiarize a love letter."
From the beginning, Alford was embedding
parts of himself into the design. At the
inaugural Athens, Georgia property, an 1850s
iron foundry was renovated into a lobby and
live music venue to celebrate Alford's love
of rock band R.E.M., which hails from the
southern town. The aesthetic of the Tempe,
Arizona Graduate, meanwhile, was inspired
by photos from his grandparents' vacations
he longed to go on. "It's almost like therapy,
working out these ideas and resolving them
through design," he says.
It still plays into his ethos today. A selfdeclared "sneaker and shoe freak," Alford
outfitted the lobby at the recently opened
Graduate Eugene in Oregon with a front desk
display case housing the first four generations
of Nike shoes (the company was founded there)
from the '70s, including a pair made for the
1972 Olympic running team, as well as a wall of
135 vintage Nike posters.
The Eugene property is one of 10 the
brand is slated to open this year, adding to
its portfolio of 16 (23 are in the design phase).
In addition to its first international property
in Cambridge, England, Graduate is also
expanding to primary markets, including the
recently opened Seattle outpost, with New York
(Snøhetta is designing the 18-story hotel's sleek
façade for Cornell's Tech campus on Roosevelt
Island) and Nashville on the boards.
Despite this move to more urban settings,
the brand's cheeky personality remains intact.
In Nashville, for example, an all-pink rooftop
watering hole and a ground-floor karaoke bar
are in the works, the latter putting singers on
stage with Chuck E. Cheese-style animatronic
animals.
For Alford, he says the spectacle remains
cathartic. "It brings me back to those two
minutes somebody is riding a roller coaster and
not thinking about their problems. We want the
same thing with our properties."
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