Hospitality Design - August 2010 - 50

perspectives

competition

From left: Renderings of Seymourpowell’s Aircruise flying over Portofino, Italy; its guestroom; and a closeup of the white ship.

download a set of guidelines, and create their own pop-up hotel. “From there, [the three of us] tried to hone in on one, but as we started to talk about all three, there was absolutely no reason not to create something that ﬁts the mold for all three,” Solorzano says. And from there, Mosaic was born. Built for multiple environments and locations, Mosaic allows governments, developers, entrepreneurs, hoteliers, private organizations, and charitable aid societies the opportunity to create, design, develop, and implement new hospitality, vacation, housing, emergency shelter, and support structures that are simple and adaptable to numerous situations in almost any geography. Think medical response, festivals, remote areas, the Olympics, cultural events, and natural disasters, or even seasonal demand. “The genius of WATG’s submission is the combination of creativity and ﬂuid solutions to long-standing hospitality challenges,” explains Michelle Finn, vice president of the HD Group. “They successfully created an architectural vocabulary that provides limitless possibilities for an authentic guest experience and return on investment potential.” The basis of Mosaic is its modular, geometric-shaped prisms. Pre-ﬁtted with built-in ﬁxtures and furnishings (such as recycled wood ﬂooring, recycled metal frame), as well as self-contained energy, plumbing, and lighting systems (including a photovoltaic skin), the prisms can be custom made into whatever need the situation warrants, from guestrooms to mini-homes. And thanks to plug-in interiors, the prisms can be designed on a case-by-case basis, or branded for a speciﬁc operator, brand, or designer. Grouped together, they are interlocked with various hubs that contain lobbies, medical/ spa facilities, F&B outlets, and infrastructure, which features only the best in bioengineering technology: a methane digestor, geothermal

heating and cooling, wind generators, solar panels, hydroponic greenhouses, a rainwater cistern, and reverse osmosis plant. “Mosaic is for anyone, for anytime, anywhere,” Solorzano says, adding that the structure of the prism retracts and folds to be easily stackable and packable. “It doesn’t matter place, person, or season. It can be adapted to any climate with its skin, affordable for disaster or luxury setting.” Agrees Medzigian: “That fact that Mosaic is ﬂexible in terms of the physical plan itself for what demands are available is brilliant. One of the challenges with the industry is the cyclicality of the demand, and they came up with something, if you have demand issues, that you can pick it up and move it, or use it for something else.”

Runner Up: Aircruise
London-based Seymourpowell didn’t create Aircruise—a sleek, vertical airship that’s powered by natural energy—just for this competition. Instead, it has been a self-propelled project that the ﬁrm has been toying with for the past three years. “Aircruise was the product of an exploration into the future of luxury air travel. What we were questioning during the concept development was our world’s obsession with ‘speed at all costs.’ Should the future of the premium travel experience be tied to resourcehungry space constrained and all too often high-stress airline travel? Or, should we be looking to technology and design to allow us to slow down and enjoy the ride?” says senior designer Craig Bunyan. “With Aircruise, what we are presenting is an old adage: ‘The journey is more important than the destination.’” Taking cues from the golden era of ships, Aircruise is essentially a hotel in the sky complete with dramatic open public spaces—a

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - August 2010
