NEWH - September 2004 - (Page 18)

cruise ship of elegance... aboard the Queen Mary II by: Anita Bell Senior Designer at SMC Design Ltd. “Classical Art Deco with elements of current state-of-the-art design” is perhaps the best way to describe the interior schemes on board Queen Mary 2. Much of the inspiration for the overall theme of the ship actually came from the “Golden Age of Travel” the 1920s and 1930s - when fast transatlantic liners were at the peak of their popularity. For us this project began in earnest in Autumn 1999 when were asked by Cunard to be lead Architects following a series of successful refits carried out on their existing fleet. With the ship being completed and in service in January 2004, we had a longer than normal lead-time to prepare our designs. This process of creating interiors for a ship the size and magnitude of Queen Mary 2 has been both long and complicated and in my experience of it I would like to say that it has been an incredible journey and an enormously educational experience. One point we have been clear and adamant on all through our design process was that we did not want to slavishly copy or recreate the old Liners but rather distill out the essence of them and bring this into a more contemporary design, even to create a “new liner style”. One of the early tasks was to research this well documented era and old Liners and assess what made them so memorable. This research led us to a number of principles, the main one being for the ship to revolve around the use of clean, straight liners created with the help of top grade, quality materials. An example of this is 18 that we wanted real wood veneers wherever possible. This meant developing special fire retardant lacquers to meet the stringent regulations that ships have to comply with. Another classic feature of many historic liners that we wanted to use was that of back lit glass ceiling panels, (to act as a false sky light) as these help to create a sense of light and space. As the QM2 is the longest, highest and widest passenger ship ever built, lighting became a key issue and one of many challenges we faced. Due to the placing of the public areas low in the ship for better stability and the fact that because of the weather that can be encountered on the North Atlantic windows sizes are limited. With the use of these “false skylights” we were able to bring large areas of light into the centre of the ship. As we were fortunate enough to have larger than normal volumes in this ship we were able to develop unique decorative light fittings and chandeliers both as wow factor and a way to bring large amounts of light to the inside of the ship. Over 250 mood boards were created to ascertain the general direction and atmosphere for each of the areas. These boards act as a great way of sounding out the direction in which a client sees the interior going. To create these boards, various images of different styles of interiors are collected. These are then presented together with examples of the finishes (fabrics, wall claddings, flooring etc) we see as appropriate to create the feeling and style for each area onboard. It is at this early stage that the client’s

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEWH - September 2004

NEWH - September 2004
President’s Letter
Calendar of Events
Contents
From the Editor
Hospitality News
On the Road Again... HD Expo 2004
Cruise Ship of Elegance…Aboard the Queen Mary Ii
Cruise Lines Expand Options
Your Hotel Restaurant
Powerful Tools of the Trade
Education in Culinary Arts
The New Direction for Restaurants in Canada
Jamie Oliver Story
Lindsay Sharman Trainee Extraordinaire
Oh Canada, Oh Canada…The Fairmont Royal York
From Across the Pond

NEWH - September 2004